04 Feb 2016 13:43:37
This mass walkout planned for this Saturday on the 77th minute; if there is anyone on here planning on doing this, I urge you to please rethink.
This is a very important game for us. A must win game to keep us in touching distance with the other European football hopefuls. This potential walkout is going to do nothing except distract the players.
And as for buying Wembley tickets and not attending?! seriously? talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face! You think that is standing up for the fans? By giving the billionaires the money anyway and then not even getting your moneys worth? Taking a seat away from a fan desperate to see his club play?
Here's a better idea. This weekend, stay behind after the game for an additional 77 minutes. Make a point that if they are going to charge extra you're going to stay for longer. That will cost the club more money as they'll have to pay security and ground staff overtime. Use your heads you bunch of petulant muppets. This is absolutely pathetic behaviour from a bunch of xenophobic so called adults who hate our owners simply for being American.
04 Feb 2016 13:50:20
Sorry EMS, disagreed in error! There are so many fans that can't get tickets and here we have people essentially throwing them away.
04 Feb 2016 13:51:25
I would be very surprised if there was even enough of them for the commentators to notice what they are trying to do.
04 Feb 2016 13:55:35
Got to be honest EMS I like the idea of the additional 77 minutes protest.
Much more ideal than a walkout.
04 Feb 2016 14:01:14
It worked for newcastle - and only a few walked out.
04 Feb 2016 14:08:23
Half the fans leave about then every week anyway lol.
04 Feb 2016 14:09:44
At least we will be able to see who Waro is on the telly, as I imagine he will be the only leaving the stadium on 77 minutes.
04 Feb 2016 14:16:10
No worries Swishcleaner. I don't care even if people deliberately click disagree. I just hope this changes a few peoples minds. I want what's best for the team. Staying late would probably cost the club a few extra thousand quid but that's pocket change to FSG. But it would make a point without the risk of any detrimental effects on the players.
I genuinely don't care about the prices going up. If I was a regular and I had to sacrifice a couple of pints a week because ticket prices had increased, It still wouldn't bother me. I always buy my shirts from the official club store or website even though they charge more purely because it means the club will get the retailers cut. The more money we pay into the club, the more stable they will be financially. All I want in return is something to cheer about and entertainment. They gave us a bigger stadium so more fans can watch us play every week and in return we can help them pay for it. Welcome to modern football! You can't expect to receive if you're not willing to give. Some people are just being bitter and petulant and I'm quite frankly embarrassed to be associated with them.
The fans need to accept that football is a business. It always has been. The amount of money in the game now and the competition at the top means that they have to be ran more efficiently from the clubs perspective now though. Like it or not, but we are customers. The club provide a product, and we pay for said product. Look up the definition of a customer. We all are, and always have been customers. As the product becomes more expensive to produce, the price paid by the customers simply has to increase. Or we could just let the clubs running costs slowly plunge it into liquidation? Wake up, smell the coffee, and if you're willing to pay for it you can drink it.
This all comes down to the elitist fans thinking they should get privileges over the so called 'day trippers'. If you can't afford to go every week, here's an idea; don't. Let somebody else have the opportunity to watch their team play. Just because you were born and bred in Liverpool doesn't mean you get first dibs and shouldn't have to pay the going rate. I can't even afford to go once a month but you didn't see me walking out last year when I got the chance to go!
What these deserters are essentially doing is going into a shop, refusing to pay £2.50 for the cornflakes, paying it anyway, and then only eating 77% of the box before throwing it away. Well done mate, I'm sure the guy who sold you it is losing so much sleep.
{Ed001's Note - I am sorry but you are missing the point. Ticket prices are no longer that important financially to the club, not with the monster TV deal. Ticket prices being increased is greed, as Leicester have shown you don't need to spend massively to compete at the top end. They spend 15k a home game just putting those clappers on the seats. They put a free bottle of beer on every seat for the New Year. They have ambition and want to win, but they are not doing it by exploiting the fans.}
04 Feb 2016 15:01:53
EMS, xenophobia! Seriously, I couldn't care less were our owners are from as long as they have the fans and the club's best interests at heart.
And for the people down the page who want my Wembley ticket, that's exactly why were buying them and not going, because if we simply chose not to attend in protest, there's always people like you who are willing to break solidarity and pick the bones out of the remaining tickets that are left.
And here's a question, if I'm now a customer and not a fan, can ask FSG for a full refund at the end of the season if I'm not satisfied with the product they're providing? Think I know the answer to that!
Thank you ED001 for your support, top man. The rest of you, hang your heads in shame.
04 Feb 2016 15:05:27
Ed001 have you seen the price changes? They've redistributed the costs of tickets. The better seats now cost more, the worst seats cost less, kids get in cheaper and schools get free tickets.
The amount of revenue gained from ticket sales is probably barely changing. They've just made the seating costs reflect the quality of the seat you're getting.
Its just a classic case of a consumer pushing their luck to get more out of their money with no regards to how much deficit the supplier is running at. Prime example is milk. Dairy farmers plunged in to debt because consumers won't pay to cover the running costs.
The only greed I can see is from the Liverpool fans with the best seats who don't want to pay more, even if it means younger adults, children and people with rubbish seats can pay less.
Our owners have poured millions into this club just to keep it affloat. As you just said, almost nothing is made from ticket sales so this has nothing to do with lining the owners pockets. If they wanted to do that they'd have said no to Rodgers last summer instead of giving him £100m to spend!
{Ed001's Note - I never said almost nothing is made from them, I was saying what is taken is of very little comparative value. Why not just freeze the more expensive tickets and drop the price of the cheaper ones?}
04 Feb 2016 15:06:49
Leicester is a one off ed, let's be honest. It won't be happening for another 20/ 30 years.
{Ed001's Note - Arsenal have been competing for years spending very little, so not sure that holds true.}
04 Feb 2016 15:09:49
I think if the rest of us actually stood a chance of getting tickets I could sympathise with you more. As someone who only rarely gets to go the games, I don't suppose I can really make a valid argument. But I just can't see a few fans walking out making the difference as, like you said yourself, if the owners lose a few hundred customers, there are plenty more willing to step into their shoes.
04 Feb 2016 15:21:08
Don't agree EMS, working class fans are being priced out of what used to be a working class game by a thirst for profit. If fans don't make some sort of protest, something to try and change the course of the club and its greed, then who else will? Paying fans (who are paying extortionate prices) have a right to protest and I support them doing so. Do I think it will make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things? No. But its a principle thing, the fans are morally right here - the club is morally wrong.
04 Feb 2016 15:29:59
Ed001 the most expensive tickets have gone up by about £10. That's about £300 a year assuming you buy the best seats at one off prices every week and we have long cup runs to get roughly 30 home games a season. 2/ 3rds of season tickets have been frozen. Local fans, children and young adults get cheaper/ prioritised seats.
I would bet my car that these ticket increses won't cost anybody more than £200 a year. Unless somebody is going every week without a season ticket and paying for the best seats every time. In which case I want to know; how are they getting the best seats every week?!
It's just a massive over reaction from people with not even a basic understanding of money or who don't know the actual details of the ticket changes. For some it is just a great chance to legitimise their hatred of our owners and brain wash others into thinking they're mistreating the club.
Waro you never gave them a chance from the day they came in. People just saw more Americans and jumped to conclusions. They never stood a chance at winning you over despite investing more money than any other club owner in England during their 5 tenure. I think you post some excellet stuff mate but it's one gell of a contradiction to say you support Klopp this morning and then 30 minutes later say you're going to walk out on his team. FSG aren't the ones in the ground and your protests will have no affect on ticket prices. Only on the games you abandon.
{Ed001's Note - I just think it is a difference between those who have things handed to them on a plate and those of us who know what it is like to have nothing and have to truly work for everything. It is not an over reaction, it might be the wrong reaction, I don't know, but a stand should have been taken many years ago on ticket prices.}
04 Feb 2016 15:44:31
This is what happens when a football club becomes a business. I don't think your protest will make a difference Waro. i'm not saying do nothing but think of something different. Maybe a large Banner (like the ones you see floating across the kop) that would possibly be caught by TV cameras?
04 Feb 2016 15:44:53
Seano the morally correct thing to do would be not to pay the prices if you do not agree with them not with-hold your tickets from others who want to go. I'm sure their are plenty of people who will pay the prices being asked. So if you don't want to, get out the way and stop forcing empty seats in some sort of desperate attempt to become martyrs.
I just fail to see why people are kicking off about £100-300 a year extra. Just cut out a pack of ciggys and a pint a week or skip your takeaway. Job done. You can save your life whilst you go to the games.
I'd love to go to every game. And yet people lucky enough to do just that are going to walk out or not turn up because they have to pay a little extra? Cry me a river! Whilst I stream the game on a laggy server, 200 miles away, on a feed so pixalated Henderson looks like a potato, and Arabic commentators scream "Gooalazoooooo" I'll think of you poor souls in Anfield who had to set aside an extra tenner to be there.
04 Feb 2016 15:46:55
Well I know 2 people who won't be leaving on 77 mins.
04 Feb 2016 16:09:11
Anyway, it doesn't matter, Ed001 said we can use his box!
04 Feb 2016 16:09:13
Looking quickly at other sides, Spurs are increasing their tickets by average 2% next year, United and Arsenal have frozen theirs. The only club I could find reducing prices is West Ham, but they have extenuating circumstances that allow for it. LFC could have done snorting different, but relative to others it would have been a decrease in revenue at a time when our costs are higher than ever. Irony for me is that for every £1 spent roughly £.58 goes to the club's wage bill, so the ones most directly taking your money are the players and their expensive toys, not FSG who to the best of my knowledge have never taken anything from the club.
04 Feb 2016 16:13:24
Make that 4 Ron. My mate has literally just messaged me saying he's got a spare ticket I can have for £55. So I'll be walking out on the 55th minute! ;)
Joking of course, but I will certainly be booing those who leave on the 77th minute.
04 Feb 2016 16:15:47
EMS, you may not like this post either but, scousers have this in built suspicion of everything and everyone, that's why we very rarely get taken to the cleaners, and we definitely won't take being mugged off, and that's what's happening here and we won't stand for it and that's the plain and simply truth. With regards to your klopp reference mate, I'm sorry but that is just a sad conciquence of what these owners are pushing us to, what do we do bend over? No sorry, not happening and the reason I was suspicious from day one is now being bourne out IMO! Standing up for something you think is wrong and unfair is ingrained in us, hence the great great people who stood up to the authorities and would never accept the lies of Hillsborough.
04 Feb 2016 16:30:56
Eh have I missed something, from 2003 to 2008 I used to travel from newcastle to liverpool with the northeast supporters club the spirit of shankly. The ticket prices then was only 36 quid. Even with the travel I still was only paying 70 max which was cheaper than a ticket only from most other top prem clubs.
Ave just rang the lad that runs the supporters club and can still get a ticket cheaper than 45 quid, I honestly cannot see the problem paying that for a ticket.
04 Feb 2016 15:57:55
Ed001 it is unfortunate but prices are dictated by supply and demand. There are millions of people who want tickets and only 45,400 seats.
You can say it's morally wrong to increase the prices and perhaps it is. But it's also morally wrong to expect other people to pay the same amount as you for worse seats or if they are kids/ students. I just don't know why those 45,400 people with tickets expect the support or sympathy of the millions of us too far away or too poor to attend regularly in a walk out. I will not support it, condone it, or pretend I agree with it. It's pathetic and smacks of a toddler having a tantrum because his mummy gave him a choc ice instead of a cornetto.
{Ed001's Note - really think you are missing the point, no one is expecting that so why do you keep referring to that nonsense?}
04 Feb 2016 18:06:11
Just curious how anyone thinks the owners don't care about the fans. They she'll out millions upon millions to try and field a winning team. Even if that is so they can sell for a profit, it still benefits the fans. Ticket prices go up every year over here for our 4 major sports. And I am priced out of them as well. But I understand it is a business, and in order for my teams to remain competitive prices go up. My only complaint about the costs of attending a game here (usa) is the mark ups on beer and soda. Parking is a little stupid as well. And I hope one day to be able to come to Anfield with my boys and pay whatever to see a match.
{Ed001's Note - surely the point is that it should be like the Bundesliga and put limits on ticket prices, so that everyone can be competitive without this ridiculous 'it's a business' nonsense being spouted. They are sporting CLUBS, there should be no business, no ltd companies etc involved.}
04 Feb 2016 18:34:39
I think if you're going to put limits on ticket prices, you need to also take out the number of season tickets. This allows your thompson holidays etc to take the piss even more charging £200+ for a ticket in the rafters or behind a pillar. Quite frankly I've thought season tickets at the bigger clubs have been redundant for about 20 years.
04 Feb 2016 16:56:17
Some of you just don't get why regular supporters are up in arms. Once a year "fans" who are saying the rise is insignificant are not paying £1,000 for a season ticket plus away games, cup games and so on. The time has come to say enough is enough.
The additional revenue from TV rights is 71% and each club will make a minimum of £85 million give or take. Factor in 8,500 extra seats 50% of which are corporate, naming rights for the new stand and additional revenue from merchandise etc., the additional revenue for the club is phenomenal so to "squeeze" an additional £2 million a year from match day supporters is greed, pure and simple.
This is a fantastic opportunity for the club to give something back to supporters and reduce ticket prices not raise them. The additional TV money alone would cover the full seasons league gate receipts of circa £35 million a season. £2 million to LFC is nothing, it is about a third of Sturridge's pay packet or £12.5 million less than we spent on agents fees leeching money off the club, so I will also be leaving in the 77th minute.
Interest is gathering pace locally so people may get a surprise on Saturday with how disgusted the regular supporters are. Those moaning about not getting tickets due to tickets being handed down through the generations need to get a grip. All the home games in the league cup went to general sale and probably cost a total of £60 for the 3 games so it would be interesting to see how many of you took the opportunity to come up and see the Reds!