Is everything going to plan

[pottert]

I'm not a current season ticket holder,so I am arranging a season ticket next season with current sth.so to my surprise on Thursday morning through the post I received an INVITATION TO PURCHASE SEASON TICKETS AT THE AMEX through the post,Is this the next phase of the ticket selling process or are tickets not selling as fast as they had hoped.

 

[southstandandy]

This is a general mail shot - obviously they havent put 2 and 2 together yet and realised you had already booked one - the sytems are clearly not that clever.
Lets hope the systems and IT for next season are a bit more efficient at ironing out these small problems come August. Don't worry though several people in my office who had already gone on the coat tails of other existing tickets holders have also had letters as well.

 

[sully]

Where's my letter?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I'm not a current season ticket holder,so I am arranging a season ticket next season with current sth.so to my surprise on Thursday morning through the post I received an INVITATION TO PURCHASE SEASON TICKETS AT THE AMEX through the post,Is this the next phase of the ticket selling process or are tickets not selling as fast as they had hoped.

Well, seeing as how up til now the club appears to have made minimal effort to sell tickets to the man on the bus in the town or the county, I guess they had to start sometime

 

[pottert]

Well, seeing as how up til now the club appears to have made minimal effort to sell tickets to the man on the bus in the town or the county, I guess they had to start sometime

Fair point

I was just trying to find out if anybody else had received the same letter

 

[kevo]

Martin Perry was adamant at my presentation that the club would sell out of season tickets - but as you say, that's going to rely on a substantial take-up by non-STHs.

 

[pottert]

Don't get me wrong.AT the moment we are top of the league & we attract 7000 home fans to withdean.
If we were bottom of the league we would still attract at least 5000 to withdean.
So that means we have a hard core support of between 5000-7000 depending on league position.
The anti withdean brigade ?? Who knows

We are moving into a stadium that is 3 x our current average attendance,are we kidding ourselves that we can fill this stadium or is this the start of something new

 

[kevo]

Well traditionally we've had a much bigger hardcore support - average attendance at the Goldstone in the 77/78 season (Div 2 - Championship level) was 25,000. That year, we were the 12th best supported club in the country (as we were in the 79/80 season). You can argue that crowds may have fallen since then because of rising ticket costs etc, but even so we have been underachieving in terms of attendances for a while, and I think that is largely due to Withdean and everything that comes with it. The Amex is going to be stunning - and I think this factor alone will tempt a hell of a lot of casual supporters thru the turnstiles.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Don't get me wrong.AT the moment we are top of the league & we attract 7000 home fans to withdean.
If we were bottom of the league we would still attract at least 5000 to withdean.
So that means we have a hard core support of between 5000-7000 depending on league position.
The anti withdean brigade ?? Who knows

We are moving into a stadium that is 3 x our current average attendance,are we kidding ourselves that we can fill this stadium or is this the start of something new

I would say our hard core support would be a higher figure that that of just our ST holders or average crowds at Withdean as there are plenty of fans who mainly attend away games rather than visit Withdean for example and many others.

Also buying tickets for games has been difficult for withdean because they had to be brought in advance which will always discourage the casual punter, the new stadium and all the extra interest it has brought will mean a lot more non regulars at Withdean will go.

However the only things i can see that may put people off attending in future are a) if buying tickets close to kick off proves difficult, stopping those who are suddenly find they are free on the day from being able to watch if they wished (eg if your playing football and your match is called off close to the Albion match starting, can you turn up and get in at Falmer, is there an easy way to buy tickets as you can't pay on the gate - i know people who had this happen and didnt bother at Withdean as buying tickets late was problematic (no pc, not near ticket office etc))
and b) ease of getting to and from the ground. If this proves difficult, it could discourage non regulars from going.

I think we will fill it to start with and then its down to other factors like how well the team does, etc. to keep people going.

 

[Superphil]

I can confirm, the club have sold ALL 2500 1901 Club seats, however, I was asked not to say how many Season Tickets have been sold, suffice to say, the club are 100% confident that they will SELL OUT the season tickets. It is most certainly going to plan, with over double the amount of season tickets than at Withdean sold already, and that is before they have got through all the current season ticket holders.

 

[Sloe Joe]

Good chance fo ra stadium tour even if you don'y buy a ST

 

[smudge]

I've never had a ST in my life; been going out the Albion since 1970.
I'm getting one for Falmer, already sorted. I'm away with work for 6 months of the year, so not very economical.
f*** it though, I can't wait to get in MY SEAT!!

 

[pottert]

Get in there

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

It is most certainly going to plan, with over double the amount of season tickets than at Withdean sold already, and that is before they have got through all the current season ticket holders.

I reckon that only makes logical sense in a black hole or something, but sounds good*

*as long as there will be some seats left over for non-ST holders like me

 

[LeicesterGull]

sorry to ask the obvious but how many season tickets are there in total?

 

[Gwylan]

I got my letter inviting me to book a presentation yesterday - the day after I went to the presentation and bought my ticket. It was dated 3 January so, well done, Royal Mail for that one.

According to Ken Brown at the presentation on Thursday, the club has sold just over 6,000 tickets but that doesn't include 1901 members and club staff. There will be 15,000 season tickets on sale, so they're not half-way there yet.

 

[LeicesterGull]

With a previous post mentioning all 2,500 1901 member tickets have been sold out, that's just over 8,500. You'd expect at least 10K to have sold and with promotion the feel good fatcor should easily push this to the 15K. Happpy times!

 

[Gwylan]

According to KB, the club is expecting to have sold more than 10,000 tickets by the time they go on open sale.

That makes sense, there are 20 more days of sales to ST holders: 160 people a day = 3,200 plus any extra that they book.

 

[Martinf]

I still haven't seen the actual date when they go on general sale. Existing ST holders period finishes on 25 Feb, then there seems to be a period for 'longstanding supporters' and then the general sale. I spoke to someone at the club yesterday and they said 'late March' for general sale.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

My Son and I received our ‘gift boxes’ 30/12/10, and yesterday received the new updated direct debit forms, together with the ‘thank you for booking to visit the Amex and purchase your season tickets’ letters. The letter was dated 3 January 2011, was posted 10 February 2011 and was received 11 February 2011. The letters were received 2 days after we had attended the Amex. Fortunately we had already purchased our season tickets 3 weeks ago as part of a +3 with family members who have held season tickets for longer than us.

I still think that season ticket holders should have been treated a little more fairly than the +3’s, and whilst appreciating that the club is busy getting ready for Falmer, the whole process seems a little Heath Robinson and arse, elbow with its organisation, record keeping, and communications.