Macclesfield - Being greedy over replay ticket prices.

[Pinkie Brown]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ield-Wednesday-FA-Cup-third-round-replay.html

Pathetic. What planet is this idiot on? Quote from Macclesfield Director Andy Scott after Wednesday announced ticket prices would be £10. “It’s cheap and it actually devalues the competition,” said Andy Scott, Macclesfield's associate director. Maybe somebody should point out to Mr Scott, getting a replay is a bonus on top of what they would have expected to make. Glad we didn't play this lot !

More bums on seats at lower prices usually means bigger takings and a whole load of goodwill. Not that complicated. With Mr Scotts logic, no wonder Macclesfield are in financial poo. I actually hope Sheffield Wednesday stuff them.

 

[Durlston]

Bit harsh.

Macclesfield have had a lot of financial problems since they went out of the league and they're only averaging crowds of 1,200 in the Conference. Hillsborough is one of the best grounds in the country and I don't blame them for wanting to make as much money as possible. If they still had Connor Jennings on loan, I think they'd have a chance but best of luck to them.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The thing is, Wednesday are also 'trying to make a much money as possible'. They have a better idea of what their public will pay, and Macc should defer to that.

The Macc director seems to think this is some kind of glamour tie!

 

[Simster]

The thing is, Wednesday are also 'trying to make a much money as possible'. They have a better idea of what their public will pay, and Macc should defer to that.

The Macc director seems to think this is some kind of glamour tie!

You'd think so, but Macclesfield are asking SWFC to charge £18 rather than £10 a ticket. Are Sheffield Wednesday really likely to double the gate if they nearly halve those prices? I don't actually think so, and if I'm right then why are SWFC insisting on make them cheap as chips?

I reckon they'd get 11,000 at £18 a ticket and maybe 18,000 at £10.

 

[Easy 10]

You can argue the toss over what the pricing should be for this game, and making it cheap will obviously get more bums on seats. But Sheffield Wednesday should certainly at least have consulted with Macclesfield over the price structure, instead of just arbitrarily setting it without even liaising with them.

 

[Lethargic]

Remember this is Wednesday we are talking about they are massive and therefore the biggest draw in the cup, I assume people would happily pay a fortune to see massive Wednesday.

 

[atfc village]

Wednesday charged The Shots £10 in the cup 2 years ago and got a crowd of just over 10000 including 800 away fans .Charge anymore and watch the crowd fall away even more.

 

[TopCat]

Cheaper ticket pricing for the cup does favour the home team as they are only obliged to share a % of ticket revenue not any additional matchday revenue. From a purely financial point of view the Macclesfield director has a point as Wednesday do far better out of cheaper tickets than Macclesfield do. Prob should be honest about this rather than trying to position it as "devaluing the competition" however!

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Macclesfield took OFF their two strikers when they looked like winning in order to force this replay as they are desperate for a sum of around £150 000 pronto. Listen to the Guardian football podcast for an account of this.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I don't quite believe this. Are you saying they took off their two strikers so that they wouldn't win the match (£67,500 prize money plus guaranteed spot in the fourth round, where they could have been drawn against any of the big clubs) in order to bank a replay in front of 10,000-15,000 at Hillsborough at £10 a ticket, of which they only keep 40% of the profit? That just doesn't add up.

Their manager confirmed this bizarre and startling point after the match. He actually stated that they tried to not win the game and hang on for the draw. If that doesn't devalue the competition I don't know what does.

 

[albion534]

Their manager confirmed this bizarre and startling point after the match. He actually stated that they tried to not win the game and hang on for the draw. If that doesn't devalue the competition I don't know what does.

Where's the video and quote? As it's pretty much match fixing otherwise

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Seriously? Just as a comparison, last season Sheffield Wednesday played MK Dons in the third round of the FA Cup. Even though it was on a Saturday and against a team two divisions higher than Macclesfield, they only pulled in a crowd of 11,462. Let's say they got the same crowd next week against Macclesfield and that every single person paid the adult price of £10, that only generates £114,000 in revenue. Let's also say that every penny of it is profit, that would leave Macclesfield with about £45,000 to take home. In reality, it'll be much less as plenty of people are concessions, there will be costs to subtract from the revenue and most importantly there is no guarantee Wednesday will even get 11,000+ people turn up to watch Macclesfield at a week's notice. It sounds to me like Macclesfield will be lucky to make £30,000 from the replay.

On the other hand, they could have kept their strikers on, scored a goal and banked £67,500 in prize money, even before they had been handed a fixture for the fourth round and another money-making opportunity.

Absolutely mental.

Its all about greed - they're hoping to beat Sheffield Wednesday in the replay , cop the £67,500 prize money and pocket £20k for their share of the takings.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Macclesfield took OFF their two strikers when they looked like winning in order to force this replay as they are desperate for a sum of around £150 000 pronto. Listen to the Guardian football podcast for an account of this.

You are quite correct that did happen i was there and Macclesfield set out their stall in the last 5/6 mins to hang on for the draw this after they had forced Wednesday to defend deeply and as someone has said already Macclesfield after drawing level pushed Wednesday all the way. Two other things to consider Cheshire East council chipped in with nearly £300K to help Macclesfield though the season and at Saturdays game it was announced to fans 'if you keep your ticket Town offer £7 entry to their next home game' which should have been against Lincoln City on Tuesday January 14th.What i find hard to understand is that two 'big' gate games for Macclesfield are both evening games one against Chester City the other Luton Town of which both clubs would probably have sold their allocations out. However at times Macclesfield really do shoot themselves in the football when they were in the league fixtures/next home game etc were clearly shown and now nothing no imformation what so ever.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Where's the video and quote? As it's pretty much match fixing otherwise

I imagine it may be on bbc sport or five live. That's what I listened to.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

I don't quite believe this. Are you saying they took off their two strikers so that they wouldn't win the match (£67,500 prize money plus guaranteed spot in the fourth round, where they could have been drawn against any of the big clubs) in order to bank a replay in front of 10,000-15,000 at Hillsborough at £10 a ticket, of which they only keep 40% of the profit? That just doesn't add up.

Yep that's what I'm saying. It may be akin to one of Baldrick's finest but that seems to have been their plan.

 

[Philzo-93]

Yet again I am reading, seeing and having to believe (reluctantly) that clubs are giving more a shit about money than they are actually caring about getting fans into grounds and experience a good cup match.

The shine is slowly going on this great competition and someone needs to polish it up. Unfortunately the FA give a turd more about the Champions League than they do about their own competition which has a thousand times more history and significance to football than any other european competition put together!

 

[Rugrat]

Yep that's what I'm saying. It may be akin to one of Baldrick's finest but that seems to have been their plan.

It's got a bit twisted though. The overall profit to the club from winning and then getting a potential jackpot in round 4 is far greater than anything they might get from the inevitable beating in the replay.

The reason they would have made those subs was to protect the draw and get the replay. So not to lose the game as opposed to not to win it

 

[stripeyshark]

You'd think so, but Macclesfield are asking SWFC to charge £18 rather than £10 a ticket. Are Sheffield Wednesday really likely to double the gate if they nearly halve those prices? I don't actually think so, and if I'm right then why are SWFC insisting on make them cheap as chips?

I reckon they'd get 11,000 at £18 a ticket and maybe 18,000 at £10.

So £198,000 versus £180,000. That's only £18,000 more but with £7,000 less people in your stadium. All those people need to do is spend £3 each on food/drink/merchandise and you've made more money.
PLUS, Wednesday will keep more of the merchandise money than ticket sales AND people are more likely to spend more money at the ground if they get in for a tenner. Good luck Wednesday!