Torquay United Fans Forum

westbaygull wrote: 13 minutes ago I'm a bit baffled about the indignation of some on here, I had to go and check the O/S to see if ticket prices had sky rocketed...
Where can anyone realistically get a few hours entertainment for under £20 these days? I get that money is tight for the majority, myself included, but if you could afford to attend last season then this rise isn't a deal breaker. Apologies if that sounds harsh, but it isn't.
When I started a thread earlier this year, many jumped on the fact that we nearly didn't have a club to support, which is absolutely right, but now the Board have made this decision let's extend the same gratitude for being able to attend matches still.

As a side note, if anyone had particular extenuating circumstances I'm almost certain based on their conduct to date, that the club would come up with a special bespoke arrangement, for example an installment plan.

I'm a bit baffled about the indignation of some on here, I had to go and check the O/S to see if ticket prices had sky rocketed...
Where can anyone realistically get a few hours entertainment for under £20 these days? I get that money is tight for the majority, myself included, but if you could afford to attend last season then this rise isn't a deal breaker. Apologies if that sounds harsh, but it isn't.
When I started a thread earlier this year, many jumped on the fact that we nearly didn't have a club to support, which is absolutely right, but now the Board have made this decision let's extend the same gratitude for being able to attend matches still.

Although I believe the price hike for young fans in Bristows' Bench is a big mistake, there are many factors at play and a simple comparison with League 1 / League 2 isn't clear cut. The infrastructure at a higher club, of similar capacity, isn't significantly more expensive. Their players will be getting bigger wages, but maybe the sponsorship of both the team and individuals makes up a significant amount of this number. I see an increased ticket price as an investment in the longevity of the club.

Personally I am glad the board have shown they are prepared to make potentially unpopular decisions in order so that the club can progress. Remember this money will be going to enhance the football club, not to line other people's pockets.
All season people have been saying they're so grateful to Bryn for giving them their club back; well now comes the hard bit, back it or lose it.

This is how I see the Price Rise.

As a Senior I bought my Season Pass today as an Early Bird retaining my seat in Bristows for £349. Cost £15.17p per game.

The increase based on 52 weeks works out at 82 pence per week after a 3 year price freeze. I am not complaining.

I pay about £15 per game against £20 per game for a full price ticket in Bristows. I get 25% off. Very fair in my book to support my lifelong team in their quest to return to the EFL.

culmstockgull wrote: Today, 12:32 The affliction of being elderly cannot be solved by specsavers, I pay to sit in the same seat each week ,as for moaning , perhaps we see things differently, I am all for tough decisions, but our back room seems to grow each week in staffing and costs, why a goal keeping coach when both of our signed keepers have played at a higher level and logically know more about goalkeeping, is that moaning, if so , I moan.

You pay to sit in that seat for one season. Now you have the choice to sit in another seat for the upcoming season where you can moan to your hearts content. Enjoy the ride, stop moaning about the journey.

PS I fixed the post for you, specsavers allowed me the joy of being able to see your mistake. You're welcome.

Personally I think the cold light of day will see this issue soon pass. Ultimately, attendances are dictated by how the team are doing, ranging from the diehard 1500 through to 5000 if we're top of the league. I suspect a very small percentage would not attend due to new prices.

Also, if the family stand does become a true family environment again and money is invested in initiatives to enhance kids' enjoyment of the experience then that must be a positive thing all round.

Reality is, TUFC tickets are almost the only thing not to have increased in recent years and overall this strikes me as a well thought out decision based on business rationale designed to put the club in the best position over future years. They haven't simply added £x but instead, created different options so everyone can elect what best suits them.

It's been a long time since we had owners operating in such a strategic way and I applaud it.

Southampton Gull wrote: Today, 12:22 You should try Specsavers, I hear they're very good.

Move with the times, the custodians of our club are doing what they feel is best to take the club forwards. I'm fully behind that and prepared to let them continue what they have already started. It's time fans started to realise that tough decisions need to be made to take this club forward. Do you expect the same seat on a bus, at the cinema, in a restaurant? Moaning seems to be your favourite pastime.

The affliction of being elderly cannot be solved by specsavers, I pay to sit in the same seat each week ,as for moaning , perhaps we see things differently, I am all for tough decisions, but our back room seems to grow each week in staffing and costs, why a goal keeping coach when both of our signed keepers have played at a higher level and logically know more about goalkeeping, is that moaning, if so , I moan.

culmstockgull wrote: Today, 12:14 Its far more than just moaning about sitting in a particular seat or a particular stand, its about choice, I choose to pay extra for my season ticket in bristows.Consider telling the pop side that by a stroke of a boardroom pen we are moving you all to woolens terrace,because in reality that is what they are doing to family groups currently in bristows, I imagine woollens would be one empty stand each week.
I,like many of the elderly variety who I might remind you make up a goodly pertcentage of the crowd each week ,my eyesight is not what it was, I sit in the middle of bristows because I can comfortably see both ends of the pitch something I can no longer do from the family stand. Three or four times a year when my grandchildren visit devon I take them to home games, how is that going to work when I am in bristows and they are forced to sit in the family stand or do the club expect me to buy myself yet another ticket in the family stand just so I can sit with them.

You should try Specsavers, I hear they're very good.

Move with the times, the custodians of our club are doing what they feel is best to take the club forwards. I'm fully behind that and prepared to let them continue what they have already started. It's time fans started to realise that tough decisions need to be made to take this club forward. Do you expect the same seat on a bus, at the cinema, in a restaurant? Moaning seems to be your favourite pastime.

No issues with the price increase at all. Will be buying my first ST in well over 10 years this season. Partly due to stepping away from playing regularly in the Devon/peninsula league but also due to being much more behind the club as a whole.

Think they could do something better regarding the kids ticket pricing, but every penny is going to be spent on the club, whether it’s on or off the pitch improvements and I’m more than happy to put my money towards that, as I think others should too. Seen some huge overreactions on the Facebook group already but hopefully people will realise everything is done with the club in mind.

Southampton Gull wrote: Today, 10:21 Stop whining like a petulant child and wake up to the facts of what we are, a club recovering from almost ceasing to exist. Our prices come without the sponsorship and prize money, without tv money and without large numbers of away fans. Comparing them to league clubs is what's truly ridiculous.

First of all you were bemoaning the thought of us targeting promotion now you're crying about sitting in a different seat and paying more to put the club on a more sound financial footing. Put your toys back in your pram and get someone to push you to your new seat.

Its far more than just moaning about sitting in a particular seat or a particular stand, its about choice, I choose to pay extra for my season ticket in bristows.Consider telling the pop side that by a stroke of a boardroom pen we are moving you all to woolens terrace,because in reality that is what they are doing to family groups currently in bristows, I imagine woollens would be one empty stand each week.
I,like many of the elderly variety who I might remind you make up a goodly pertcentage of the crowd each week ,my eyesight is not what it was, I sit in the middle of bristows because I can comfortably see both ends of the pitch something I can no longer do from the family stand. Three or four times a year when my grandchildren visit devon I take them to home games, how is that going to work when I am in bristows and they are forced to sit in the family stand or do the club expect me to buy myself yet another ticket in the family stand just so I can sit with them.

exilegull wrote: Today, 11:23 Overall the proof will be in the pudding though - does this raise extra cash of discourage attendance?

There are two key aspects here:

1. The cost impact for regulars, especially those with families who attend in the Bench, which I think we would ideally not see increased if at all possible.

2. The impact on revenues - both ticket sales and ancillary sales (e.g. from pies and pints to shirts and hats).

Increasing ticket prices will undoubtedly reduce demand for tickets - that is basic economics - and therefore we have to hope the club have run the numbers and determined that the increase will outweigh this to deliver a net increase total ticket revenue.

The impact on other sales is harder to predict - perhaps some of those who would have bought a new shirt will now save the cash to fund the increase in ticket price. Some may forgo the pre-match pint.

The financial impact on supporters is negative, but this is ok so long as the club makes enough extra money to offset the impact on goodwill.

These things are famously hard to predict (look at the ONS forecasts for Reeves’ budget!) but for now we have to trust that the commercially-successful owners know what they are doing.

Taelee73 wrote: Today, 07:37 We’ve just been told that we are now debt free, which is amazing and I am very thankful to the owners, but doesn’t this now mean we have money to spend elsewhere?

Don't forget last season the club had two fairly substantial injections of cash last year from the new owners and then from TUST which will not repeat next year - they went a sizeable way to reducing debts and helping with some of the investment that needed.

I'd agree that comparing prices to league clubs is not so useful - as has been highlighted, league clubs have other sources of revenue, especially sponsorship and money from the Football League that get's distributed - we rely substantially more on gate receipts, although this is clearly something the club are working on to increase other revenue sources.

To some extent I agree with Dave - are we paying simply paying customers, no different to our relationship with Tesco, or is it more than that, we are part of the club all invested in it's success. The new owners and a number of people around them have put both money and I think more importantly a huge amount of time into saving the club, stabilizing it and starting to move it forward, no one is making any money out of the club, everything is going into it's regeneration, therefore I struggle to begrudge a few quid extra to be part of that rebuilding, although acknowledging for some people the additional money is tough to find. Overall the proof will be in the pudding though - does this raise extra cash of discourage attendance?

Taelee73 wrote: Today, 07:37 We all want the club to prosper on and off the pitch, but to hear certain people saying put up and shut up, ridiculous.

Our prices are not far off Championship, League one levels and we’re in NLS! If we’d been promoted then yes a rise would be acceptable, however we weren’t, this is more about forcing people out of Bristows for me.

We were getting gates of over 5000 and that............

Stop whining like a petulant child and wake up to the facts of what we are, a club recovering from almost ceasing to exist. Our prices come without the sponsorship and prize money, without tv money and without large numbers of away fans. Comparing them to league clubs is what's truly ridiculous.

First of all you were bemoaning the thought of us targeting promotion now you're crying about sitting in a different seat and paying more to put the club on a more sound financial footing. Put your toys back in your pram and get someone to push you to your new seat.

I seriously do see all sides to the argument here, the very future of our club depends on the next generation of fans, yesterdays Dads who brought their kids, who are now todays Dads bringing their kids, and so the process repeats, so any initiative that makes football at TUFC more affordable to families must be seen as a good thing, personally think this move to cleanse the Bristow's bench of kids is a bad idea.

Using Exeter City as a comparison in my humble opinion is totally flawed , for a start they're an EFL League 1 club, the 'average' annual income of League 1 clubs was reported to be around the £10 million mark 2 years ago, likely to have risen. EFL clubs benefit from much larger income through TV , attendances, solidarity payments and much more, there isn't the trickle down of money through to the non-league, so with much larger income, comes the ability to have a different pricing structure.

It also must be understood, that Exeter fans themselves help fund their own club, through the their 1931 fund which helps cover the cost of a players wage, where supporters pay £19 a month, they have a community fund running also.

So that leads to the other side of the argument, we as TUFC fans have to ask ourselves what kind of a club do we want ? There are plenty of League 1 and 2 clubs who are reporting significant loses, if they've got means to finance those loses, well good for them, we here at TUFC do not have that luxury at this moment.

So we as fans of this club will have to look at whether we can dig a little deeper, of course that doesn't apply to everyone, some right now are less fortunate than others, so if you can only afford to go to a few games, your equally as worthy, as a season ticket holder.

Personally I'm in the slightly more fortunate bracket, so I did invest in the community share issue, I will renew my season ticket, and will join the club lottery. I can see what the board are trying to do, but their having to rebuild this club from the ground up, that takes a lot of money, I do want to be part of the journey, so what ever little I can do, I will.