Finance will be required next season and we should be very grateful to the business men who finance the club but it should also be up to "the little guys" also.  If every true fan, or almost true fan gave £100 - everyone who went to Hampden for example - it would add a reasonable amount of money for the Championship challenge.  It would need some organising.  They could also speak to the local shops bars and businesses.

I would strongly support reopening the west as a standing area, reasons:

cost, choose your games based on weather and other commitments rather than paying for a ST which sometimes cannot be used, choice to stand next to people you like and are knowledgeable about the game, better for those with bad hips, don't need sunglasses in winter, don't need to deal with officious stewards being told to sit down when you need to stretch your legs/joints. When the west closed my mate and I bought season tickets in the north stand, the experience was not the same.

The club should introduce 5 or 10 game flexi tickets. This would be ideal for fans who can't get to every home game or fans based in the Central belt. The club gets the money upfront and fans can pick and choose which tickets to use. 

Edited June 1, 20179 yr by RedCard

12 minutes ago, RedCard said:

The club should introduce 5 or 10 game flexi tickets. This would be ideal for fans who can't get to every home game or fans based in the Central belt. The club gets the money upfront and fans can pick and choose which tickets to use. 

Agree with this idea however, depending on how it is implemented, it potentially means taking a seat out of use for an entire season just in case someone decides to show up every now and then. The club won't know if they can sell it on the off chance there is a high demand for tickets.

I guess the obvious thing to do, and I'm sure you would have said this anyway, is to offer these tickets without the guarantee of a particular seat and you just take whatever is available on the day? A bit like the super cheap advance tickets on the Scotrail trains.

Edited June 1, 20179 yr by RiG

16 minutes ago, RiG said:

Agree with this idea however, depending on how it is implemented, it potentially means taking a seat out of use for an entire season just in case someone decides to show up every now and then. The club won't know if they can sell it on the off chance there is a high demand for tickets.

I guess the obvious thing to do, and I'm sure you would have said this anyway, is to offer these tickets without the guarantee of a particular seat and you just take whatever is available on the day? A bit like the super cheap advance tickets on the Scotrail trains.

Yes you would have to sit in whatever seat is free in your chosen stand. The chances of not finding a seat will be slim next season. The ticket would only be for league games which will never be full so cup games wouldn't be an option. 

Could there be a facility where you decide the day before or even on the morning of the game where you can notify the club that you are attending to allow them to manage expected flexi ticket turn out? 

21 minutes ago, RedCard said:

Yes you would have to sit in whatever seat is free in your chosen stand. The chances of not finding a seat will be slim next season. The ticket would only be for league games which will never be full so cup games wouldn't be an option. 

Could there be a facility where you decide the day before or even on the morning of the game where you can notify the club that you are attending to allow them to manage expected flexi ticket turn out? 

Exactly. Even this season in the Premier I came up and got tickets at short notice. Even for County and Rangers I could easily sit next to my mates although I wasn't in the allocated seat. Apart from Celtic and Aberdeen the stand is barely half full.

Let's be honest, next season we won't even remotely have that problem. If we get a sell-out game in the Cup surely the club has the facility to allocate a ticket to a voucher holder who rings up.

I would gladly pay for a 5 or 10 game voucher as the days of me coming up using a season ticket are gone, for various reasons. So the club has lost my £300 but would at least get more of it back than it currently does.

Edited June 1, 20179 yr by TheMantis

38 minutes ago, RedCard said:

Yes you would have to sit in whatever seat is free in your chosen stand. The chances of not finding a seat will be slim next season. The ticket would only be for league games which will never be full so cup games wouldn't be an option. 

Could there be a facility where you decide the day before or even on the morning of the game where you can notify the club that you are attending to allow them to manage expected flexi ticket turn out? 

I think that would place something of an administrative burden on the club unless it could be managed online through the e ticketing system? Log in, select and save your seat or a seat by a certain time and then when it comes to match day it's not available for general sale? 

I mentioned it a few months back but Aberdeen were selling tickets for games where you saved money if you bought them weeks in advance (again a bit like bagging a cheap train ticket). So if you say buy a ticket for the next home game in two weeks time you save £5 on the walk up price. Obviously that's just an arbitrary figure as you would need to be careful that buying 'advance' match tickets didn't undercut your season ticket holders but it could be something else to try out. And like the advance train tickets if you buy one at the discounted rate you don't get a refund if you can't make it.

Remember what I was saying about how the club doesn't value it's supporters...?

22 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

 Your sentiment isn't totally new, but it's just completely wrong headed to propose that individuals, some of them possibly not all that well off themselves, should make voluntary donations to sustain the wage levels of footballers who are already being paid well above their realistic market value.

 

 

On 24/05/2017 at 0:16 PM, Charles Bannerman said:

 What the well intentioned OP suggests is that fans should donate from their own funds, effectively to allow football players, most of whom earn far more than they do, to enjoy levels of pay which are way above the market value of what they do.

 

On 14/05/2017 at 0:36 PM, Charles Bannerman said:

The reality is that players are paid and expect to be paid far, far more than the realistic market value of what they do 

 

On 14/04/2017 at 10:17 PM, Charles Bannerman said:

 The root cause of the problem is that players just about everywhere are paid more - often far, far more - than their realistic market rate.

 

On 27/01/2017 at 11:07 PM, Charles Bannerman said:

 To be realistic, wage levels across the game are unrealistically high in relation to true market value and performamce levels.

Yes, I think we've got it now Charles...

I once tried to setup the same type of arrangement, with the ("Pay-A-Player") scheme even getting a mention in Ian Broadfoot's book. The short version of the story is that hundreds of people thought it a good idea, a great one even, but very few were prepared at the time to commit to a monthly direct debit. 

Since then I have always believed that the best way to get people to put their hands in pockets and support the club is to buy merchandise, buy some of the unissued shares (if available), or do things like sponsoring players, their kit or something like that. In fact, the sponsorship route is probably the best because the club get all the money from that and you as the sponsor also get something out of it. I made sure to stop by the Errea truck on my way out of town the other week for some merchandise, and the player sponsorship thread will be up and running as soon as I have time. If anyone needs a platform for other (legitimate) fund raising schemes or to promote it then we are happy to provide or promote that ... just fire off a message   ;) 

1 minute ago, Scotty said:

I once tried to setup the same type of arrangement, with the ("Pay-A-Player") scheme even getting a mention in Ian Broadfoot's book. The short version of the story is that hundreds of people thought it a good idea, a great one even, but very few were prepared at the time to commit to a monthly direct debit. 

Since then I have always believed that the best way to get people to put their hands in pockets and support the club is to buy merchandise, buy some of the unissued shares (if available), or do things like sponsoring players, their kit or something like that. In fact, the sponsorship route is probably the best because the club get all the money from that and you as the sponsor also get something out of it. I made sure to stop by the Errea truck on my way out of town the other week and the player sponsorship thread will be up and running as soon as I have time.   

Spot on. Like many faraway fans I try and make up for my occasional visits by buying club merchandise etc.

1 hour ago, TheMantis said:

 

Yes, I think we've got it now Charles...

The problem is that the game hasn't got it - despite this being its fundamental Achilles heel.

Edited June 1, 20179 yr by Charles Bannerman

Good luck with this initiative then, brianm6261 ... given the apparent outrage over frozen season ticket prices, perish the thought. 

On 31 May 2017 at 1:11 PM, brianm6261 said:

Finance will be required next season and we should be very grateful to the business men who finance the club but it should also be up to "the little guys" also.  If every true fan, or almost true fan gave £100 - everyone who went to Hampden for example - it would add a reasonable amount of money for the Championship challenge.  It would need some organising.  They could also speak to the local shops bars and businesses.

^^^^^^^^

CaleyD alias IMO

 

Dougal

1 minute ago, dougal said:

^^^^^^^^

CaleyD alias IMO

 

Dougal

Is this the same CaleyD that has disappeared since relegation...

 

 

Kenny Cameron was CaleyD.

Players nowadays appear to be paid the "going rate" which effectively has little (nowadays) to do with ability . Whether that is to the liking of fans such as Chas. Bannerman is another story.

But if buying houses is anything to go by in comparison I'm afraid that nowadays you either pay the huge amounts asked for on the listings or live in  a tent. The housing market here in Canada and, from what I've reviewed in Scotland, has gone completely mad. So much so that a young couple hoping to be proud owners can only have fond hopes to sustain them over countless years of hard work and attempts to save enough to put a downpayment on the wee hoosie they like most out of a cheaper, bad bunch.  My new house, which we entered in January 2013, has already gone up 59% in value. It's meaningless though because where do you live if you sell? You will die before you cash in unless your son or daughter loses their mate in a car crash and asks you to come and stay with her or him. So, for the currently-unmarried get on with it, sire many children and live with the most successful  and ebullient of them 'cos they are probably the winners.

Football is no different. And to be honest it's even like the cost of food, new cars, foreign holidays etc., etc. The world has gone cuckoo, dearies, so praise your players so that they at least try to give you some real value for money but the days they are a changing so don't hold your breath. Once the gloss is off their transfer- in- fee and they have cashed in their first few cheques the possibility is that they will relax, feel they are financially safe as houses, have reached the stage in their careers where they are finally getting the recognition they think they deserve but rarely got in their past clubs and play to the level at which they really feel that they either like their manager -- or not.

As for the coming season if we don't bring in a highly motivated, restless, new manager, then  don't hold your breath about realising a quick return to the Premier League. Even the very best of thoroughbred horses needs to be shown the whip occasionally as a reminder of who is the boss. Not as a threat but as a reminder that he, the jockey,is a human being who also has ability, passion, grit and determination to win and he won't accept anything less than the best that that horse can produce. Also known as leadership without which failure also looms.

And remember that the really  top jockeys rarely use the whip but convey to the horse in some wondrous communication of psychic energy that they are a team and the team has to win.

6 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

As for the coming season if we don't bring in a highly motivated, restless, new manager, then  don't hold your breath about realising a quick return to the Premier League. Even the very best of thoroughbred horses needs to be shown the whip occasionally as a reminder of who is the boss. Not as a threat but as a reminder that he, the jockey,is a human being who also has ability, passion, grit and determination to win and he won't accept anything less than the best that that horse can produce. Also known as leadership without which failure also looms.

While the manager needs to be respected the days of football clubs having managers that ruled by fear is long gone, this is why the Alex Ferguson approach will never work anymore (maybe he even seen that becoming more apparent so opted it was time to get out for good) - players like employees in any walk of life have more rights than in the past. Fear, intimidation and verbal or even physical abuse is not acceptable and employment law puts the control firmly with the employee - this is perhaps never more demonstrated by sport especially football where player power can have a huge bearing - look at Chelsea, Leicester and who knows maybe on some of our performances last season even us. Managers like Alex Smith, Jocky Scott, Harry Rednapp etc who are dinosaurs of the game fail to realise this so bang on about experienced managers being over-looked, perhaps tactically they are astute but their people skills lack and man management limited - this is why they are out of the game. Yes a manager needs respect either through initially their achievements and experience as a player or over time through demonstration of their tactical, personal and employee attributes.

An authoritarian only approach will not work in the modern era, so lets not be naïve enough to think intimidation is the same as passion & ability to succeed.

But I didn't say, BDU,  that only authoritarianism was required.

It's also about setting an example and imbuing the players with a passion and desire to always do their best and to try very hard to win well. In short, treating them with respect but getting forceful ( in private perhaps) if their performance rarely shows greater effort or a high edge to it, in an attempt to inspire them to put out a greater effort which the manager thinks they have in them.

I am sure you know that not every player has the mind, personality, or self respect to always mentally take a manager's  thoughts on board. If they resist then they may have to be let go because you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Maybe it's his past upbringing or he feels that all he has to do is put in what HE thinks is always a good, average shift to get by. This attitude can be disruptive to the team, so punt him. That action alone might smarten the player up sufficiently to change his ways. Who knows?  

What I am really saying is that  where there is little enthusiasm in the player for always putting out his very best effort and it's not in  his current make-up to normally do that, then the Manager should seek out and sign players who have been watched consistently and display character and personality as least as much as skill. All the skill in the world is of little value to the team if the player continually fails to put out effort and deliver. In the modern times you mention of having to handle players with kid gloves, it doesn't necessarily mean that the manager has no authority. Just drop them and then have a very firm  chat with them stressing that if he wants to stay in football he will have to change or else. And, of course, it's crucial too that the Manager has a good, consistently fair, personality which the players can look up to, respect and play for.