Hospitality

[Scotty]

Saw this in my email from the club and then the Supporters Trust followed up with the email quoted below: 

You have been asking for this and now it’s here!  Supporters hospitality returns for the home game against Cove on Saturday 21st of September. Priced at only £50 (inc VAT) for season ticket holders or £70 (inc VAT) if you don’t have a season ticket, you can enjoy full pre match hospitality in the Highlander Lounge that includes a free drink on arrival & after the game (pay bar for rest of the day), 1 course curry lunch, halftime pies and, various player/former player interviews plus much more. Come along and enjoy a great day out and watch ICT in the best way possible.
 
The Supporters Trust would like to thank Scott Young for all his hard work to make this happen and hopefully we can sell the room out for the game.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/pM47kpQMYmdYEKF6/

 

[Robert]

I appreciate it is a different meal offering, but that is a real bargain compared to the limited hospitality offerings in recent seasons that have been priced at £105 plus VAT, so £126 in total.

I hope it gets well supported. 

Edited September 10, 2024 by Robert

[Satan]

Looks good, not a good day to be working

[Kind of Blue]

Good to see that season ticket holders are getting it at a discounted rate.  I hope it is well supported.

[The Mantis]

16 hours ago, Kind of Blue said:

Good to see that season ticket holders are getting it at a discounted rate.  I hope it is well supported.

Is that not normally the case though - it is in my experience. After all you've already paid for your seat.

Sadly won't make it as I'll be abroad.

[+Fraz]

FYI for anyone who may have been interested, it's been cancelled due to lack of numbers. 

[ICTPaisley]

5 hours ago, Fraz said:

FYI for anyone who may have been interested, it's been cancelled due to lack of numbers. 

Very cheap for Hospitality, it’s a shame we don’t have a support that can fulfil these things. 
 

Maybe next time a few months notice will be needed in order to round them up.

[+CaleyHedgehog]

12 hours ago, Fraz said:

FYI for anyone who may have been interested, it's been cancelled due to lack of numbers. 

That is a real shame and I know there were people who were involved in organising this that will feel that they have wasted their own time and energy on this. Sorry.

I was still mulling over whether to treat my other half to this, but although it is a lot cheaper than normal hospitality, it is still a lot of money for many of us. I'm not trying to say that it is not a fair price, just that there is not a lot of money to go around just now and at the least it would be a £100 spend as someone is unlikely to attend alone.

I feel guilty that I didn't commit, but in all honesty season tickets were purchased recently, players have been sponsored, tops bought and I do have other commitments. Christmas is coming and winter fuel prices are also a concern for many.

At the end of the day, in a club with a fan base the size of ours, in this economic climate, the fans are always going to find it hard to help the club out financially. 

[+Fraz]

8 hours ago, ICTPaisley said:

Very cheap for Hospitality, it’s a shame we don’t have a support that can fulfil these things. 
 

Maybe next time a few months notice will be needed in order to round them up.

Possibly, I understand there was at least 20 in our group I was booked in with.

55 minutes ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

That is a real shame and I know there were people who were involved in organising this that will feel that they have wasted their own time and energy on this. Sorry.

I was still mulling over whether to treat my other half to this, but although it is a lot cheaper than normal hospitality, it is still a lot of money for many of us. I'm not trying to say that it is not a fair price, just that there is not a lot of money to go around just now and at the least it would be a £100 spend as someone is unlikely to attend alone.

I feel guilty that I didn't commit, but in all honesty season tickets were purchased recently, players have been sponsored, tops bought and I do have other commitments. Christmas is coming and winter fuel prices are also a concern for many.

At the end of the day, in a club with a fan base the size of ours, in this economic climate, the fans are always going to find it hard to help the club out financially. 

At the end of the day £50 (or £70 with no ST) isn't cheap for essentially a curry, 2 beers and a pie.

However for me it was a chance to celebrate a new fresh start at the club and get the craic with a group of friends I've not seen much off and rarely get all together. Plus give the club a few quid in the process. I know most of the group is pretty gutted. Now looking at alternative options in town. 

[highlandexile]

Pretty annoyed with the club at the late call off yesterday afternoon.  I'd organised 2 tables totalling 20 people.  Mostly season ticket holders wanting to put money into the club.  Yes, £50 was quite pricy for a curry, a pie and 2 drinks.  But, as has been said, a lot of our group thought it was an opertunity for a good get together while putting money into the club.  

I  think only one other table had been booked but even with 30, we had thought it would have gone ahead in some form.  After all some money for the club is better than none.  

 

[caley100]

On 9/10/2024 at 1:34 PM, The Mantis said:

Is that not normally the case though - it is in my experience. After all you've already paid for your seat.

Sadly won't make it as I'll be abroad.

You're always abroad!  i'll have to remind you that Harris is not abroad! 

[Hearach]

1 hour ago, caley100 said:

You're always abroad!  i'll have to remind you that Harris is not abroad! 

He probably meant overseas

[tm4tj]

Should we be annoyed at the club or annoyed at the fans who never tried to make use of an event that some were asking previously why it was not happening.

[Yngwie]

42 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

Should we be annoyed at the club or annoyed at the fans who never tried to make use of an event that some were asking previously why it was not happening.

It’s disappointing that we couldn’t make this work, even at a much more accessible price point than previous attempts.

Was Gardiner basically right all along that there’s not enough demand for hospitality amongst our support? Other, smaller clubs seem able to run a regular offering.

[RiG]

I wonder if hospitality is somewhat old fashioned to a lot of the support many of whom will prefer going to the pub in town before a game to watch whatever football match is on then head out to TCS. It just doesn't seem like it's something that interests a lot of people any more.

That said, there is potentially still a fair amount of apathy towards / burnt bridges with the club for a lot of fans after the mess of the last few months / couple of years. Whilst many would normally want to do their bit to help support the club after how so many fans have been treated they will be thinking twice about digging into their pockets even with the likes of Gardiner gone. 

[Scotty]

7 minutes ago, RiG said:

That said, there is potentially still a fair amount of apathy towards / burnt bridges with the club for a lot of fans after the mess of the last few months / couple of years. Whilst many would normally want to do their bit to help support the club after how so many fans have been treated they will be thinking twice about digging into their pockets even with the likes of Gardiner gone. 

 

There is also no small matter of the ongoing demand for money from the aforementioned former CEO whose shadow hangs around like a bad smell, and some comments from AS that show we are not out of the woods yet. Some may be reticent to part with cash in those circumstances if they think it will end up in the wrong pockets or in administrators' hands instead of the club.  Its a catch-22 situation, and I have to admit that the same thought crossed my mind as I contacted Keith to ask him to bill us for the player sponsorships.  

I do have to admit that I did prefer to have a beer or several at the Innes before the game, avoided the sports bar, and just got to my seat at around 2:59pm. I tended to avoid hospitality because it meant an early start at the stadium, a suit and tie job (at that time), and then a long night ..... 

Wonder if there are any innovative ideas on what might be more popular? I know at TFC they have a buffet type arrangement for what they call the "tunnel club" and fans who have bought premium season tickets that include this option for the entire season, can simply float from table to table like you might in a pub and go grab food (or drink) as needed. No formal sit down or three course meals. I can't afford that personally, so for the plebs like me, there is the option of a beer garden that opens early and serves bottled beer at normal prices (as opposed to stadium prices) in an effort to get more people to the stadium early. There are random prizes or swag to be grabbed to entice people to attend. Perhaps we can take the grains of ideas like this or others and see how they might be scaled to ICT size?     

 

[IBM]

I think the hospitality was mainly taken by local firms treating their customers for a day out but the way the club has been run in recent years that has not helped.

[STFU]

Unfortunately I can seldom get to the ground on time to do hospitality but on the occasions I could make it I'd pay £25 for a bacon roll a bowl of soup and a pint with access to a proper bar before the game a pie and cuppa at half time and bar access for a couple of hours after the game. That way they'd get my £25 and bar spend.

Did they not have some kind of cheap exclusive access thing in the past?

[dougiedanger]

4 hours ago, Yngwie said:

It’s disappointing that we couldn’t make this work, even at a much more accessible price point than previous attempts.

Was Gardiner basically right all along that there’s not enough demand for hospitality amongst our support? Other, smaller clubs seem able to run a regular offering.

Your ongoing defence of Gardiner is getting even more bizarre. No wonder the club is in the mess it is.

[The Mantis]

7 hours ago, caley100 said:

You're always abroad!  i'll have to remind you that Harris is not abroad! 

I’m in Iceland this week buddy. Not the frozen food store either. It was booked in November. It’s Lewis not Harris btw

[ICTPaisley]

3 hours ago, dougiedanger said:

Your ongoing defence of Gardiner is getting even more bizarre. No wonder the club is in the mess it is.

Nothing wrong with stating a broken clock can be correct twice a day.

[CaleyCiuin]

On 9/19/2024 at 2:17 PM, IBM said:

I think the hospitality was mainly taken by local firms treating their customers for a day out but the way the club has been run in recent years that has not helped.

Disappointing the recent hospitality was cancelled. Sounded like there was enough numbers to make it viable. If the recent reduced prices were meant to attract the average punter…….. then £50 & or £70 for a curry a pint and watch the game is still too high for league 1 football. Who comes up with the pricing? If it is KH…….. think again….. how much profit do you want to make out of the loyal few????? Make it attractive financially and it will build in time. Even doing it for cost initially would help re- establish it as an occasion. C,Mon KH & ICT, you can do better. 

[ICTPaisley]

3 hours ago, CaleyCiuin said:

Disappointing the recent hospitality was cancelled. Sounded like there was enough numbers to make it viable. If the recent reduced prices were meant to attract the average punter…….. then £50 & or £70 for a curry a pint and watch the game is still too high for league 1 football. Who comes up with the pricing? If it is KH…….. think again….. how much profit do you want to make out of the loyal few????? Make it attractive financially and it will build in time. Even doing it for cost initially would help re- establish it as an occasion. C,Mon KH & ICT, you can do better. 

There are part time clubs in this league that charge the same price. Maybe our fans could do a bit better and support the club rather than expect to be spoon fed their curry.

[+old caley girl]

7 minutes ago, ICTPaisley said:

There are part time clubs in this league that charge the same price. Maybe our fans could do a bit better and support the club rather than expect to be spoon fed their curry.

Which ones? We did a good bit if research and they were all cheaper for this type of package. 

[CaleyCiuin]

9 minutes ago, ICTPaisley said:

There are part time clubs in this league that charge the same price. Maybe our fans could do a bit better and support the club rather than expect to be spoon fed their curry.

Maybe they would like to, but just can’t afford it. I agree there did seem to be some uptake in decent numbers, so surprised the club cancelled it. I’m