I'd like to know (by means of a private message if necessary), how the Early Bird prices were determined. I know that the concept was brought up at a WUSA meeting, however this was prior to me joining so I haven't received the minutes.

If the pricing is also WUSA approved then it would seem to represent a massive conflict of interests:

MM: "Would people like to get in for half price next season?"
Room: "Hell yes"

What else are people going to say? It's in their best interests after all. The club on the other hand is going to suffer. I still maintain we've given away far too good a deal just to improve short term cashflow. When I brought this up at the time there were a number of responses along the lines of "Oh, but we'll generate more income through X, Y and Z next season to offset it". That's not a valid reason - in our financial position every revenue stream should be exploited to its full potential.

-- Edited by Ashford Wing on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 03:40:34 PM

morph wrote:

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Ticket prices were not and are not set or approved by the WUSA committee. the board set the early bird price and we just informed our membership of what the deal was on offer. it was then up to individuals - WUSA members or not to decide if the offer was for them.

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Ok, thankyou for clarifying.

Chelwing, I probably didn't phrase it as well as I could have done. My concern was that if supporters (be they WUSA members or not) were consulted over pricing then it is inevitably going to be skewed in their favour, rather than doing what is in the best interests of the club. Morph has now put those concerns to rest.

Loyal supporters should, of course, be rewarded. And coughing up your cash early should also enable you to receive a further discount.

However, Early Bird was priced at £200 including friendlies, whilst the new offer is for £260 for league matches only. If a supporter wants to buy a season ticket now, and attend four home friendlies (I believe there were 5 last year), he/she has to fork out £320 against those who paid £200 early on.

I am not disputing that £320 is a fair price for a season ticket + friendlies - if you were to pay on the gate for the same number of games it would cost you £405. Compare that to the Early Bird though, and you see that we're giving things away for marginally less than half price. That is far, far too generous.

At the time I did request that we put an asterisk in the terms to add a small increase should we get promoted. That would have seemed sensible. This may have seen marginally fewer people take up the offer, but maybe that would have been to our benefit. As was mentioned on here the other day, we don't have as many fans as most Conference Premier teams, but most of what we do have are the "hardcore" who will be there regardless of the financial commitment (within reason).

-- Edited by Ashford Wing on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 05:19:57 PM

-- Edited by Ashford Wing on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 05:24:02 PM

23 home league games only ?? friendlies are not included ??

Interesting that the early bird season ticket offer did include pre season friendlies. I assume that they will need to be a different colour so they know on the gate.

I still think we are a bit high on the concessions and students - at a lot of grounds they get in for 50% of normal adult rate but maybe not at our new level.

Different world now Kevin. Cut throat at the natioanl level. Loyality counts for nothing.

Fighting talk Ashford - correct though.

I wonder if this will mean that those who now purchase a season ticket won't show up for the pre-seasons - so you loose all the money they would have spent in the ground - a burger, cup of tea - on no wait a minute the club don't get anything for that as some third party makes his living on money Jamie could have used for players

Ashford Wing wrote:

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I'd like to know (by means of a private message if necessary), how the Early Bird prices were determined. I know that the concept was brought up at a WUSA meeting, however this was prior to me joining so I haven't received the minutes.

If the pricing is also WUSA approved then it would seem to represent a massive conflict of interests:

MM: "Would people like to get in for half price next season?"
Room: "Hell yes"

What else are people going to say? It's in their best interests after all. The club on the other hand is going to suffer. I still maintain we've given away far too good a deal just to improve short term cashflow. When I brought this up at the time there were a number of responses along the lines of "Oh, but we'll generate more income through X, Y and Z next season to offset it". That's not a valid reason - in our financial position every revenue stream should be exploited to its full potential.

-- Edited by Ashford Wing on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 03:40:34 PM

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 I am not sure what you are getting at here Ashford Wing. I don't think WUSA approves the pricing although it might have been aware. It was offered to all supporters, not just WUSA members - it was advertised on the web site and in the ground.

It happens every year and yes it is spending nexts years money this year but has been going for so long now it is part of the clubs finances - it will happen again next year I would expect. I see nothing wrong in rewarding loyal supporters and offering them a chance to renew early and get a good offer. If we had not gone up then it would not have looked such a good deal. That was the gamble you had to take.

 

£9 for 12-16 year olds is still too expensive as this is only a £1 cheaper than Charlton's prices. Plus Charlton charge £15 quid for parents accompanying an U18.

So a family of two parents and their 17 year old student 'child' can either go and watch Welling for £40, or watch Charlton for the same price. Likewise if the child is aged 12-16, they still only have to pay a £1 more to see Charlton instead of Welling.

How is this being price competitive, with a club three leagues above us?...

That's the moan over.

On the plus side well done to board for keeping the U12s go free initiative, and for promoting a new season ticket offer.

£15 is a small increase and will be much cheaper than some of the other teams within the Conference league.

£18-20 Is the higher end but then Some Clubs will pay a higher wage to try and attract a player that might add something to the squad, Hence the price increase.

£20 for Charlton v Bristol City.

Pre season friendlies are all about Getting A good known league side down that will attract enough AWAY support to provide the club with decent ticket sales.

Leyton Orient, Charlton and possibly 1/2 others will bring in significant revenue. Prices for Pre season games should be capped at say £10.00 maximum adult and kids/students £1.00

Should the club also be looking at a selective pricing structure for Games that might not offer much Value in terms of paying full Price but add to the overall gate.

Maybe the club could ask FOR the fixture list not to clash with Charlton Home games as this will add to some extra capacity being added to the gate.

Ashford Wing wrote:

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WingsTillIDie wrote:

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One benefit of the Adult admission price is that it will encourage more people to take up the season ticket offer.

An adult terraced season ticket at £260 will mean people paying £11.30 a game (cheaper than the adult admission price last season.)

Over the season you'll save £85 in admission, meaning you could miss 5 games and still make a saving.

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That would be the case if we hadn't already given away season tickets to the majority of people who wanted them for the ludicrous price of £200 including friendlies.

£15 for adults is par for the course and entirely fair. How many 12 year olds have £9 to spend watching football every weekend though...

 

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 How many 12 year olds come? We have how many 12-18 year olds playing under our banner for kingsmoor? Tell them they need to attend home games on a Saturday to play for the club. We may get a few future supporters and its free as they get tickets to get in and their parents may come.

I would scrap the kingsmoor youth teams, keep a 16-18 year old set up at the club plus the academy teams. 

How many 12 year olds have iphones/ i pads/ laptops?? but they cant get 9 quid from Daddy?

Alternative do a family offer Adult and under 18 £20 , Mum Dad and under 18 £30 each extra under 18 £5 if a family offer is used. 

Attract families with offers dont get wrapped up that one 12 year old cant afford it. You cant please everyone, we already let kids in free, Maybe offer an under 18 season ticket for  £99 or something. But if we are reducing tickets we have to own at least one of the catering vans. Why dont we have a tuck shop too? and a Junior Wings with the Dog the mascot with a page in the programme.

chelwing wrote:

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awaydaze wrote:

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Maybe the club could ask FOR the fixture list not to clash with Charlton Home games as this will add to some extra capacity being added to the gate.

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 The club do ask and request who they want for the Xmas games - doesn't mean you get it though. I wonder if being in a higher league with more travelling support will have more influence over the fixture list.

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 The way I understand it is that the club has always asked for fixtures not to clash with those of Charlton. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. 

One benefit of the Adult admission price is that it will encourage more people to take up the season ticket offer.

An adult terraced season ticket at £260 will mean people paying £11.30 a game (cheaper than the adult admission price last season.)

Over the season you'll save £85 in admission, meaning you could miss 5 games and still make a saving.

You have to also remember that quite a few of the 'hard core' will still be taking season tickets as part of the bail out arrangements.

JgFc wrote:

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Ashford Wing wrote:

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WingsTillIDie wrote:

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One benefit of the Adult admission price is that it will encourage more people to take up the season ticket offer.

An adult terraced season ticket at £260 will mean people paying £11.30 a game (cheaper than the adult admission price last season.)

Over the season you'll save £85 in admission, meaning you could miss 5 games and still make a saving.

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That would be the case if we hadn't already given away season tickets to the majority of people who wanted them for the ludicrous price of £200 including friendlies.

£15 for adults is par for the course and entirely fair. How many 12 year olds have £9 to spend watching football every weekend though...

 

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 How many 12 year olds come? We have how many 12-18 year olds playing under our banner for kingsmoor? Tell them they need to attend home games on a Saturday to play for the club. We may get a few future supporters and its free as they get tickets to get in and their parents may come.

I would scrap the kingsmoor youth teams, keep a 16-18 year old set up at the club plus the academy teams. 

How many 12 year olds have iphones/ i pads/ laptops?? but they cant get 9 quid from Daddy?

Alternative do a family offer Adult and under 18 £20 , Mum Dad and under 18 £30 each extra under 18 £5 if a family offer is used. 

Attract families with offers dont get wrapped up that one 12 year old cant afford it. You cant please everyone, we already let kids in free, Maybe offer an under 18 season ticket for  £99 or something. But if we are reducing tickets we have to own at least one of the catering vans. Why dont we have a tuck shop too? and a Junior Wings with the Dog the mascot with a page in the programme.

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You can't force people to come to games...That should not and will not happen.

The rest are good ideas, but were also good ideas when you/others have mentioned them in previous seasons. With our owners all we're ever going to get is rigid prices set at the start of each season - very few special offers and no category games for bigger/smaller teams, saturday/tuesday games.....That would be far too much effort on their part. Not every idea will work, but the club has a complete reluctance to try things on a trial basis.

Quelle surprise a "little Welling" post.

Yeah yeah, its like the dukes of hazzard on here sometimes. New posters belittling Welling in every post. Its never happened on here before. From the same person over, i'll just ignore you and let others pull you up.

I am really looking forward to discussing new players and/ or existing players who have signed.  Oh please, let it be soon!

Trigger wrote:

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Is it possible that we buy our season tickets for different reasons? For me, it means that once bought, there is only a small amount of money needed on a Saturday (£2 for the bonus ball via Sherpa). I don't generally go to matches on Tuesdays as I have other things on. When it comes to the pre-season friendlies, I find myself always asking if they are covered by my ticket anyway. If they weren't, I'd have to pay, I have no issue with that. It is possible that I lose out financially over the season due to the matches that I miss, but that's my lookout. But as I say, the benefit for me is that I can go football with just a couple of coins in my pocket.

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 Trigger, surely you're out of pocket anyway. Didin't you have to buy Matron a season ticket, or does she get in for free as your carer.............. :)

Season ticket flyer