It gives you priority not guarantee. This will be for those who can't make every match for whatever reason. Work/family commitments etc. In my case, I was unable to see every match last season due to long term illness.
Of course it does. The tickets aren't going to be free. If they have your details along with the commitment to buy for every cup game, it simply saves both you and the club time ordering the ticket and making payment when tickets go on sale in the future.
Since prices are listed for the 3 non-ST holders schemes and not for the ST holders schemes, that leads me to believe they are free. I shall go and find the Barber statement from when he announced it. I seem to recall him saying it would be free to ST holders in that. Don't quote me on it...
From the Membership section of the club site:
The Platinum Membership gives you a ticket for every home and away match throughout the season
GOLD MEMBERSHIP
The Gold Membership gives you a ticket to all the home league and cup games throughout the season
SILVER MEMBERSHIP
The Silver...
As far as I can tell, the Gold membership is just a way of automatically getting a ticket to every home cup match without having to book it in the first place. It is simply a season ticket that includes home cup games. If we're drawn at home, you automatically get your usual seat and the payment...