CaleyD

Yup....but as I said above, the service is chronic over copper. The number of conjoined pairs needed to get a usable sevice would make it more expensive than a leased line.

Not that shocking. Like it or not, they are a commercial TV channel and viewing figures are all they're interested in.

We have to find a balance. If we offer too much on the highlights, then people won't pay a premium for full matches. Being honest and upfront....I don't see highlights going over 10 mins. For games like the Arbroath one...it would be worth a couple pound extra for the full game.

They don't have fiber either. We have looked at point to point microwave etc. over longer distance, but it has its own pitfalls. The only practical solution is leased line which runs to thousands per year...plus install. We're trying to make the numbers work on that at present.

Depends on how interesting the match has been!!

This is something we have already done some work on. Again, internet connection at the stadium is our nemesis and has given us some reliability issues. We don't have the equipment to run it over ISDN and 4G is fine until you get a couple of thousand people all trying to jump on it here at the same time. We don't have fiber connection available to us (yet) at the stadium as our cabinet was never upgraded due to it only serving two properties. This means that, due to distance from the exchange, we can get less than 2MB download and about 0.4MB upload on a good day...on each copper pairing. It's the upload that we need for streaming, be it audio or video, and that's not enough for either to be reliable. We push towards solutions though and get a little closer every time we have a crack at it.

We're going to have to move to a different platform for providing highlights this season. We don't have the resource, and it's not practical at many grounds, to put in our own cameraman to capture our own footage at every game. This means we need to move videos behind a registration wall in order to utilise the feed being taken from the TV cameras instead. This need for registration will be taken care of via the club website. Obviously this new platform will come with a cost to the club. We are working on that and hope to get the basic costs covered, allowing us to continue to offer highlights without charge. If we do have to cover that cost through charging, then it will be a minimal annual subscription of around £15 per person (max). The club absolutely do not want to go this route if at all avoidable....so if we can find a way to keep highlights free, then we will. On the plus side....hopefully we'll be in a position to offer "on demand" full matches in the not too distant future, just got some logistics issues to work round. This will be offered at a small fee which we've still to determine (feedback on what people would be willing/expecting to pay per game or for annual subscription welcome). Not quite there (in terms of connection speed at stadium) to be able to offer live home matches for overseas fans, but we continue to work on it and if we can find an affordable and practical solution then the new platform will be able to facilitate it without the upheaval of moving again. Obviously if/when we do get to a point where we are offering full matches (either live or on demand) for a fee, then we would review the need for any subscription need for highlights...should we need to start out on that path.

Was keeping an eye out, but didn'the see you :(

Last time I checked, Ross County hadn't even registered their badge....I was tempted!!!

Yes, it was registered at the end of last year. Both as standalone wording and in conjunction with the badge.

There's a saying......You can have it right, or you can have it right now.....I know which I prefer.

You can send your email, marked for the attention of the Chairman, to [email protected]

Just remembered about this thread....here's the video.

The reason that matchday sales are not guaranteed for visiting fans of some clubs is because they have a history of selling large amounts of tickets in advance....i.e. there's no need for matchday sales OR there being so few tickets unsold that police do not want matchday sales and the risk of large number of fans being outside without tickets once they have sold. You'd then be moaning that, despite a "half empty stadium", an away fan dared give us money to sit in the home end and demanding they be removed....even if they had been sitting quietly watching their team getting beat.

The good old selective quote

It's not crowd size that's the important factor, it's the number of people purchasing tickets on the day of the game. On that basis, yesterday was a fairly good test....and a bigger one than it should have been due to short notice on the change of system...every cloud!! In regards to the league; matches against Celtic & Rangers will have no matchday ticket sales for the visiting club so all ticketing sales resource is available to serve home fans (including the potential for 2 additional sales points at the kiosk). Matches against Ross County, Aberdeen & Hearts offer no guarantee of matchday sales for the visiting club and this means the majority of sales are done in advance and matchday sales are no greater than for any other game (if they happen). It's only really a busier cup match that's likely to present a noticeably larger test of the resources and how they are deployed, especially if we were to face a short notice replay. Hopefully we're in a position to test that later in the season.

Yup....the idea seems a very simple one. However, all the turnstiles need to be linked to a central system to prevent the same ticket being used more than once etc. It's that technology infrastructure and the software licensing that's expensive as you then need to implement a whole ticketing system that supports/works along with it. Part of the challenge for smaller clubs with smaller budgets is that fully unmanned solutions are totally out of reach (at the moment) and manned systems introduce additional cost over and above the ongoing need for turnstile operators. The only savings for the club are that cards are cheaper than ST books; and print at home (or scanning from phones) mean there's reduced ticket printing costs at the ground. Businesses usually write off the cost of new tech over so many years....so the saving in a single season would probably need to be 20-25% of the investment to justify it. That's in purely raw terms, you still need to factor in the value of "feel good" from a more efficient system and whether, in reality, that leads to increased attendances....which is also important. It's on the radar and the club are as keen on it as the fans because it makes life easier for everyone....they just need the figures to fall into line.

Electronic ticket entry systems are improving and getting more affordable all the time. They were looked at for this season, but the installation and running costs just aren't quite there yet for us.....but hopefully it's not that far away.

Home and Away fans have queued together at the Ticket Office (even before the cabin was there) for as long as I can remember....can't see any reason why it would suddenly create an issue for the coming season. For games where there may be an enhanced risk of problems, then they're aren't any matchday sales for away fans so all resources can be diverted to increased demand at the home end. As I said earlier in the thread.....I would love to have had the chance to get the information out sooner and accept the short notice is for from what should have been done.

In that scenario, surely it's the train operator who is at fault for any losses you incur? Bit unreasonable to pin blame for the state of the transport services around the country on ICTFC!!!

That's twice as many cash points as we've previously operated. In regards to refunds. If the tickets are back with the club BEFORE the match takes place, then you would get a refund.

Correct, but that queue will be dedicated for Card Payments, unlike in the past when it has also dealt with Cash Payments. Also the flexibility for other windows to assist if needed...e.g. If Collections/Queries is quiet, then they can take Card Payment Sales if needs be. Also, the Collections/Queries desk will be handed any situations which might otherwise hold up the queue, allowing it to continue serving everyone else.

Ideally I'd have liked to have got the info out sooner, but that's not happened. Everyone on here who does have the info can do their bit to help out a fellow fan by giving a bit of direction to those who might look like they need it before the game. A chance to demonstrate a bit of the good old Highland Hospitality. #FanPower