The Season Ticket Lowdown

At the end of last season Bradford City were relegated to League Two and found themselves at the bottom of the English Footballing League for the first time in two decades. By rights there should have been nothing positive surrounding the club.

What we had instead was the start of a new power sharing relationship at the helm of the club and the return of a Valley Parade legend to take the reins of the playing side. An audacious season ticket offer was launched, and the people of Bradford responded magnificently to see 9,000 adult season tickets sold.

Unfortunately, that euphoria and excitement has not translated itself onto the pitch and the Bantams find themselves with a best realistic finish of 9th. Tragically, the events on the pitch at Valley Parade have perhaps meant people to do not think renewing their season ticket is something they want to do despite the fact that the huge season ticket sales have been bolstered by between 1,000 and 1,500 extra tickets on match days.

Speaking to Vital Bradford, David Baldwin said ‘in order for the Buy One Get One Free deal to be activated all existing season ticket holders will need to renew. Holding off is not a viable option because if you don`t buy yours, who is?’

The message is clear, if you`re planning on pairing up to wait for June 15th so that you only have to pay for one ticket between two then the chances are that we will not see 9,000 adult season tickets and one of you will have to fork out £300. Last summer we exhausted the willing floating support when the price was £138. It would be madness to think there are Bradford City fans around who could have bought season tickets but chose not to at the prices they were issued last year.

So, in that case we need to examine the thinking of the existing season ticket holders, in whose hands, this opportunity will either succeed or fail.

Well the economics seem to add up. Given the price was attractive at £138 there is no reason that a £12, or 50p a game, increase should dissuade people from a financial point of view. Of course the ‘credit crunch` may impact on some expenditures but with the option to pay in instalments one hopes that this might be mitigated in some way. Indeed, for an afternoon`s entertainment few activities offer such good value for money in a belt-tightening climate.

So then the major objection is the product being sold, opinions of which seems to hinge on the question of ‘why when we supposedly had the fourth highest wage budget have we been so poor?’

And it`s pretty difficult to counter that question when we have seen some very disappointing performances this season and not just during the dreadful ‘2 points from 24` sequence last year. Nevertheless, statistics show that we`ve enjoyed 9 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses at home this year which is in contrast to merely 5 wins and 9 draws last year.

There are hurt voices who feel betrayed and let down by their football club despite the regime change of last summer. No doubt, this is a hangover from the years of suffering we have had since the turn of the millennium.

However, to dismiss what has been achieved this year because we have missed out on the playoffs seems to me particularly short sighted and a pattern of behaviour that would result in our joint-chairmen beginning to feel similarly betrayed. At heart, we should not forget that we are incredibly lucky to have a club run and managed by people like us, Bradford City Football Club supporters.

Speaking to David Baldwin gave this writer the certainty that what is happening within our club is for you, and for me, and for us together as fans of Bradford City Football Club. The club have been brave and they have taken a gamble but that is so that reasonably priced football can be sustained into the future.

Explaining the pricing policy he pointed out that there is a hard core base of support for the Bantams that numbers somewhere in the region of 5,000. If season tickets were priced at their more realistic £300 then the club would sell them and receive the same income as from 10,000 at £150. Of course the potential is there for us to only sell 5,000 at this lower price but the club is prepared for that eventuality (and we’re already beyond half way to it with 58 days to go).

Primarily we would see some of the ‘shortfall’ covered by those extra bodies who pay on the day (don`t forget we have only rarely seen attendances of simply the 12,000 season ticket holders). And were we to sell 9,000 then there would cease to be much match day income because why would anyone pay £20 when there are so many free tickets floating around?

Clearly then the reality of these audacious ticketing schemes is not to cram extra bodies into Valley Parade and play a financial numbers game but to actually make a bold statement about ensuring affordable football can be sustainable.

Next season we trust that we will see improvement on the pitch and we believe Stuart McCall and Wayne Jacobs will fashion a side worthy of promotion and on-field success.

Now, if we the fans respond to season tickets priced at £150 and honour the attempt by our club to reward us and treat us as friends rather than simply customers then why should the price go up the following year?

Moreover, if we the fans encourage those around us to renew so that we get to see 9,000 free season tickets floating around Yorkshire then we could be looking at a very exciting revolution in the pricing of the beautiful game.

Already sides in other parts of the country have taken inspiration from Messrs Lawn and Rhodes to return their clubs to the hard-working supporters without whom a team is meaningless.

If our club’s owners had wanted a quiet life for themselves or their staff then they would have stuck the tickets on sale for £300, seen the core of 5,000 make their purchases and presided over an empty stadium with future generations of local support priced out of attending.

Instead, David Baldwin concluded ‘we’ve got quadruple the workload for no extra income purely so we can reward the fans`

There are no mind games, there is no panic about slow season ticket sales.

What there is is a club desperate to see its fans pulling together, supporting one another and enjoying their football in a fairly priced and positive atmosphere.

And you know, isn’t that the kind of football club you`d love to support regardless of whether or not you won week in week out? Stability breeds confidence and confidence breeds hope. Somehow we`re being offered all three in one season-ticket shaped bundle.

I’ve got mine, have you got yours yet?

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