08 Feb 2016 09:08:41
It seems to be a funny time at the moment for us as we are getting mixed results, but I really think this is typical give the changes everybody has had to embrace, and the new philosophies being instilled etc.
I respect that everybody has, and is entitled to their own opinion, but I do feel that recently some (and let me state some and not all) of our fans are super critical and perhaps not as patient as they could be. It gets to a point when slating players performance and mistakes can create such a negative energy even directly in the stadium that we end up putting a ridiculous amount of additional pressure on the players not to mess up - which ironically probably helps escalate to silly mistakes etc.
We all have our opinions on players but for me, as long as they wear the red shirt we should only be vocal about our pure support and compassion for them - creating an environment where they enjoy playing in front of fans who truly believe in them.
I mean reading some of the posts on here on recent weeks - could you imagine if any of the players have seen them - having low confidence already, reading some of the harsh posts would completely kill their confidence!
I say we embrace the change and start emanating the message - if you go out there and play for the shirt and give it your all, we can forgive minor mistakes knowing that we are on the long road to better things.
Sorry to go on about it.
08 Feb 2016 10:21:45
FSG were stunned after being called GREEDY BASTARDS by so called the BEST FANS in the world inside their stadium.
08 Feb 2016 10:41:28
Good, job done then wasn't it Harry.
{Ed002's Note - And who do you think would make good owners?}
08 Feb 2016 10:54:09
Not saying they are or are not good owners, just saying they got this one wrong.
{Ed002's Note - You will be one of the regular working class folk who will go to games to buy one of the tiny percentage of top priced tickets then?}
08 Feb 2016 10:57:30
Well Ed02, A good owner is someone who listen to all the crap we spout and Buy One Lionel Messi every 6 months may be.
And Boy did they not listen to people? Yes they did. From Kenny to Klopp they kept the emotions flowing as well as MONEY. Now people need a new face.
08 Feb 2016 11:01:03
Whats your point Ed? I am in the Kop so I get a relatively reasonable y priced season ticket. And for your info, yes I am working class, I am a local business owner of 30 years plus.
{Ed002's Note - So you are one of those bleating about something that is no relevance to them at all. The whole thing is about getting the owners out and not about the tickets.}
08 Feb 2016 11:02:19
It might be a tiny percentage Ed but £77 isn't affordable.
I don't think many of the ticket prices are affordable at the club.
Personally I like FSG, I think they've done a brilliant job at dragging us out of the dark ages and taken many a financial hit and abusive hit from the fans. However, I think they're being misguided by Ian Ayre who clearly doesn't understand your average footy fan.
The atmosphere will continue to diminish if the ticket prices continue to rise.
Continue to push the commercial aspect of the club, sell the naming rights to the club, do whatever to protect the fans being able to make it to the games.
{Ed002's Note - These are the highest price tickets and they are affordable, and the seats won't sit empty.}
08 Feb 2016 11:02:25
And Ed, yes the £77 tickets are a tiny percentage, what about the £75 tickets?
{Ed002's Note - You mean the cheap tickets?}
08 Feb 2016 11:17:16
Cheap is a subjective word. I suspect you're correct though and the tickets won't go to waste. Unfortunately some people will just pay it because they can, Turkeys voting for Christmas.
{Ed002's Note - History is that locals would go, and take their children and stand watching the game on Saturday afternoons. Everyone would then head to the pub or club on a Saturday evening and play the game again. And this happened well in to the 1970s I am sure. I understand that now it is much more difficult and the onset of the money coming in, games being televised, internet streams being available, kids wanting to play on their Playstations etc. have had a big impact.
Like it or not, these changes have a tiered impact across the English game. In central London you have far more transient residents than elsewhere, so the demographics of the likes of the prawn sandwich laden Chelsea change regularly – people come and go, but they have the disposable income to go to games. Next year they will be working in Hong Kong and others will be taking their place. Without going too far from central London there is a lesser impact on other London clubs that draw their fans from suburbia and the home counties (Hertfordshire in the case of Arsenal and Spurs for example). The same is true for clubs from areas of London with a more stable population (Millwall and Charlton are good examples). Once you move out to the larger regional cities like Liverpool and Manchester there is, as I am sure you see everyday, new money coming in and that has a knock on effect on the local community, the cost of tickets to games etc.. Liverpool are a very big draw and whilst the club will be doing better during the times of new money it will be to some extent at the expense of the locals. The draw that they are as clubs will always see the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United pull in the visitors, many of which will be ardent fans, and clubs will always put aside a proportion of tickets (or perhaps packages) to sell to those visiting fans.
If you then go out to the regions you will see a much more stable population, no or little new money coming in and clubs who are generally suffering the effects of a flat economy. But if the locals can afford it, they will have no problems getting tickets to the games.
Whilst I have a lot of sympathy for folks like the local Liverpool supporters, your chums and your kids who are caught up in this, I am afraid the situation will not improve. This is the nature of the “businessâ€, and I use that word deliberately instead of “sportâ€. It would be naive to think that the increase in capacity at Anfield will see those tickets freed up for locals as season tickets costing, say, £1k per year. Taking account of the additional administration costs, the costs of policing etc., it would be a futile investment for such a small annual return. The solution for the owners is corporate sales and tickets – assign some of the new seats to season tickets, but improve and increase the corporate match day facilities to get more income. They know already that they cannot charge the same corporate prices that the London clubs and Manchester United do, but they will seek to get the best return in their investment that they can – and like it or not, it won’t be to the benefit of the local supporters.
This is something I am very well aware of, probably a lot more than you realise, and you will see a continued change in the paradigm of the game at the highest level. I have a buddy who has rued the passing of the game in his eyes and he has often recounted stories of his grandfather taking him to games as a child in the early 1960s. He has recounted stories of his grandfather’s penchant for violence to the fans of the opposition and how he was living in a segregated society even at that time. Sad, but the way it is.}
08 Feb 2016 11:21:11
Affordable is relative isn't it Ed.
No I don't mean cheap, I did mean cheaper however, but only a "tiny percentage" cheaper to use your words.
{Ed002's Note - Yes, affordable is subjective. If the poor folks who cannot afford the most expensive tickets why would they be interested in them? Why not go and buy the cheap tickets like yours?}
08 Feb 2016 11:25:09
I was chanting on Saturday, I didn't walk out though.
My chant was not directed at the owners. I am mature enough to realise that John Henry probably didn't make the decision to raise ticket prices to £77.
My chant was directed at those who did make the call and whether £77 is affordable or not, I still maintain that this is PURE GREED.
It may not be FSG specifically but it is greed by everyone involved in the decision.
{Ed002's Note - Of course it is not greed. You are being misled by the so called "supporter groups" like the Spirit of Shankly who are simply looking at ways to try and force the owners out.}
08 Feb 2016 11:31:54
Im confused How is 77 not affordable?
08 Feb 2016 11:42:18
Its awfully sad and as you say, the club have to justify costs. We ask for the big spending on players, the stadia extension and unfortunately there has to be some give. That is clear, they are operating the ‘business’ and transforming it into corporate to gain sustainability, eventually prop us up for sale and make the club a attractive proposition for any potential buyer. A potential buyer won't be interested in the £35 seats they will want more executive tickets as it makes them more pennies.
i'm not agreeing to it, I’d rather us not spend the amounts we have done and be able to watch the game at a reasonable price but it doesn’t work like that anymore as you say. Liverpool is a cruel contradiction, we spend with the big boys but don’t have the on-field success to back it up so now have to find a way justifying the expenditure. The team play bad and we pay more, that's the cruel situation and its down to poor decision making and being bad advise nothing else.
The only other way it would have worked is if we ground shared with Everton or if Example Coca Cola put a sum up for a new stadium and had full naming rights. Then we ‘might’ have had a better pricing structure like the Allianz have with Bayern (albeit maybe not quite as affordable as they offer but certainly better than what’s being proposed now) .
{Ed001's Note - sorry but tickets are an irrelevance, the money brought in is simply never going to make any real difference. We don't need to spend on overpriced players, we just need a club to be run well. The running of the club is the problem, that is what is putting it in debt. We just need to buy well, not spend big.}
08 Feb 2016 11:57:29
Your all missing the point 2 years ago Fsg said they won't put up the tickets prices what are the doing you tell me.
08 Feb 2016 11:35:04
Ed02,On your reply mate, Do you welcome such changes? Do you think this will enable clubs to be more self sufficient in future or would you want to stick to the old?
I mean the club or the sport or call it as a business, It needs money.
Is it one reason that hold People to buy a club considering its geographical location and how much it could recoup?
Thanks in advance for the repl mate.
{Ed002's Note - The is an inevitability about the changes that are happening. From my perspective the club needs sustained, manageable and continuous growth to be able to be considered at the highest level as a team worthy of challenging regularly for the Premier League and in Europe. That is never going to be easy to achieve by changing the team every season.}
08 Feb 2016 11:37:44
Ok ed, if it is not greed then what is the reason?
Genuine question because I can't work out why they would do it?
{Ed002's Note - The club loses money hand over fist and has very significant debts that are increasing further to cover work on the stadium. The club needs income.}
08 Feb 2016 11:40:23
{Ed002's Note - So you are one of those bleating about something that is no relevance to them at all. The whole thing is about getting the owners out and not about the tickets. }
Ed, are you saying that because I have a relatively reasonably priced
ticket that it is of no relevance to me? For me it is not about getting the owners out at all, and also, I wouldn't like to be in the trenches with you.
{Ed002's Note - The whole SOS (the folks behind this and other planned disruption) model is about something entirely different - it is not about the prices of the most expensive tickets at Liverpool - it is about forcing the owners out. Nothing else.
I don't get in to trenches by the way.}
08 Feb 2016 12:14:26
Note, that's what we should be doing but are currently not doing. I believe the increases will generate 2.1 million per year (roughly) as you say not big figures at all in the grand scheme of things. What I meant is the co-prorate side of things which is clearly being pushed.
08 Feb 2016 12:33:12
You missed ER out Ed02, and maybe the poor folk can't get a cheapER ticket because all the other poor folk have got them first and club have increased the price of thousands of other tickets.
By the way Ed02, I appreciate you not resorting to abuse/ insults, I must be honest I have been waiting for it.
08 Feb 2016 12:30:23
Ed thank you for that long response on the reality of its a business. I remember growing up here in the states and going to any sporting event in the NY area and it no being crazy over priced. Now I can't even consider going to any of the games ( not that I would want to) . The cost of a Yankee game from toll $15, parking $25-$50 to tickets I believe now range from $50-$1000 per game per seat. Forget the luxury boxes!
08 Feb 2016 12:39:16
Thanks for the reply ed I appreciate your perspective.
I'm no business guru but from my point of view the club needs to look at income v expenditure.
Income is increasing, massively, through the new TV deal. I appreciate some of the debts are related to the new stadium expansion.
Why isn't the club looking at expenditure? Some of the players need to be sold and reducing expenditure would have a much bigger effect on the debt than an extra £2m per year in ticket prices.
{Ed002's Note - The club is looking at expenditure and you don't want to start comparing the cost of players against ticket sales.}
08 Feb 2016 12:40:57
EDs who do the spirit of shankley want to take over?
{Ed002's Note - That is their eventual aim Lloyd - obviously it is never going to happen.}
08 Feb 2016 15:29:09
Crookie. There is people everywhere making damn all money. £77 is a lot of money to some people including myself.