RevidgeBlue

Far too sensible and very similar to what I've been advocating for ages. When nothing was available I'd have signed people up to a membership at a nominal monthly fee. Could have been a token reward or credit given in the Club Shop, Concourses or against a Cup ticket at a later date. Once it became apparent that only I follow was available for a period give upgrade everyone to that for £10 per game. Once fans allowed back in, upgrade them to full amount. The way round SW has actually done it has given him the excuse to phase out cheap tickets completely and blame it on Covid, and offer a potentially meaningless refund in real terms depending on how much prices are increased in following seasons.

Just for the sake of completeness, does anyone know what you get for paying £599 for a Jack Walker Diamond Club ticket?

Me too Tom. Been thinking it through this afternoon and the more I think about it the more worried I am getting, not just for me, but for the future of the Club in general. To me, the promise to make concessions against next year's prices only has any value in real terms if introduced in conjunction with the promise of a blanket price freeze for next season. Otherwise the Club could just hike prices up again next season and the season after that to compensate for any refunds given this season. And where would that leave fans who decide to leave it for this season? If Swag puts another £50 or so on prices next season then unless you bought this season you're looking at a minimum £450 - £500 to get in anywhere in the ground! A huge section of the fan base could be priced out for good. I really do fear Waggott is taking us down a long slippery and ultimately disastrous road.

Me too. Even for me on my own, £5 x 23 - (£115) or £399? Viewed objectively it's a no brainer. For people in a multiple ticket household it's even more difficult.

I don't think an £80 increase on a £319 ticket for the Riverside is acceptable personally. Maybe a blanket 10% increase across the ground might have been tolerable.

All this could have been introduced a couple of months ago giving people time to think through their options. Imo details have been cynically brought out only a few days before the start of the home season to pressurise people into making a rush and snap decision to renew so they can get their i follow pass in time for the first home game and also because they have this vague threat of eventually losing their normal seat hanging over their heads. Other important information has been left unclear (I suspect deliberately) - is the direct debit scheme still available? - Is there a set deadline for passes this year like normal with season tickets or will they be available throughout the season on a pro rata basis until fans are finally allowed into the ground? I also suspect next year's "refund" for matches watched on i follow this season won't be worth a bean. All Swag has to do is to calculate the amount to be refunded and put prices up by a corresponding amount over a couple of seasons to compensate. One further thing also really got my goat on the Club website. Let's face it prices have gone up because we're even more skint than normal due to the Crisis. However on the website instead of being honest and upfront about it the flimsy excuse for the massive price hike is that if they have to move someone out of JW upper then it's not fair that he's paying more than someone else. If that really were the reason and was a genuine possibility, then everyone including the guy in JW Upper should be on the lower price to be on the safe side. You don't punish everyone to protect the feelings of the guy who's moved! And the guy who's moved still isn't getting a seat of the same quality regardless of what everyone else is paying. Waggott really is taking everyone for mugs and seems to be hoping that by rushing it through at the last moment people either won't notice or even if they do that blind loyalty to the Club will hold sway.

What I don't understand is, recent local regulations have superceded those guidelines haven't they? There's no such thing as a social or support bubble locally now is there? I thought you couldn't see anyone from another household either inside or in their gardens due to extra restrictions brought in. All complete bollux imo but nevertheless we are where we are with this ad hoc enforcement of partial local lock downs unfortunately. Does this mean some grounds will be allowed to re-open and other grounds in areas with extra restrictions (like Blackburn) won't?

Good post. People keep mentioning his confidence is low, is it any wonder the way Mowbray has treated him, signing him for £7m then virtually mothballing him for 2 seasons, then when he does get a run out it's out wide. When people were listing BB's deficiencies earlier, that's what I think when I see Gallagher. Of the two I think BB looks by far the better bet but admittedly it's a desperately low bar to compare against.

Cheers Parson. I need more clarification on that point I think, also on rhe point of whether or not I can or can't sit with friends as there is reference on the Club website that if you wish to sit with "friends or family" you can create your own "bubble" on the ticketing system. Edit: when I say "sit with" I mean at a socially distanced interval, a couple of seats apart as opposed to right in the next seat as normal.

OK thanks. Not applicable to me. So, have to go down on my own, Swag's 25% price hike. I'll have a look at the full range of prices and options later but it isn't looking the most enticing prospect.

Why can't we give Brereton a try where imo he needs to be, centrally?

Me neither. Conversely I think Buckley looks a great player. Which probably means in Tony World that JRC will be virtually ever present and Buckley will be banished out on loan to the stiffs somewhere.

"Get that bus ahtttt!" Good old Reg would have been better than Luke. Reg's old Mum in the programme, Doris Hare, would have been better than Chris Brown! ?

That puts a very different slant on it for me and would mean I have to attend matches on my own. How do you mean "anyone in a bubble?" ? Also are masks compulsory? If they are, I'm out.

Cheers for the explanation on that point John. Bearing in mind local restrictions in BWD etc Are you OK to sit with a friend from a different household because if not I suspect it'll kill the whole thing stone dead.

My thoughts exactly. Hope we're not being used as bait to catch a bigger fish (again). Continually reading any deal is "close" makes me nervous. Can't be that close or we'd be reading it was done and dusted.

He's done it already though, hasn't he? My ST in the Riverside has gone up a whopping 25% from last year from £319 to £399. If he does similar again next season then he'll probably have compensated for the majority of refunds given out because of Covid. Whether it turns out to be clever bit of sleight of hand or commercial suicide remains to be seen based on the actual uptake. There's a lot to process here, I want to help the Club but frankly I don't think the Riverside is worth £399 and it doesn't sound like the match day experience would be much fun, indeed it sounds quite the opposite. I'll have to see what my mate in the Riverside thinks about it all, frankly I don't know what to make of it at the moment, if he doesn't want to renew I'd be split between not bothering at all and watching on I player or going the whole hog and ordering the best package available in JW upper. Ayala's don't pay for themselves I suppose......... BTW, whatever happened to "How can we sell something we can't guarantee?" That's gone completely out of the window hasn't it? Glad to see we've finally woken up but why couldn't this have been done a couple of months ago like many of us wanted?

Quite a high risk move for us financially I'd say given his likely wage, potential fragility and age, the Nixon tweet above would suggest Ayala wasn't happy with the deal we offered him originally, perhaps he's getting another year. I was told Grant Hanley wanted a 3 year deal twelve months ago but apparently the owners would only sanction 2 years. Sounds like we've gone back to the owners for permission to push the boat out on this one to me. Let's see if it comes off.

Yes I agree. Love Feed tbe Yak's side but I can't see much advantage in starting Armstrong and risking him picking up an injury unless you're putting him in the shop window and hoping he impresses against Premier League opposition. Conversely you'd hope either BB or Gallagher were getting to the stage they could be called upon and do a decent job whenever required.

Well done! Couldn't agree with you more. Let us know if he responds.

What a great post. Bravo Sir!

Yep. Obviously we need the first choice left back as well, I'm not saying we only need one CB, rather we need a top class CB and top class LB.

Yep. If we're revisiting old deals in general that have floundered to date it sounds like we've gone back to the owners for more money. On Ayala in particular if Sharpe is not committing himself any further than "it has a pulse" it sounds like it's not completely out of the question but not particularly likely either. I predict another 50 pages of speculation and excitement about whether he is actually coming after all before he moves to another Club entirely. Hope I'm proved wrong.

I don't see him as a player that'll ever be more than a single figures man but if he leaves me a lot lighter in the wallet than I was anticipating I'll put up with that as it might mean (against ny expectations) we've had a decent campaign!

It's back up. I'd suggest Lenham and (say) Ayala with Wharton, Magloire and maybe even Williams as back up would be pretty strong for a Club our current size. The key is getting in the top CB for the first eleven, I'm not too worried about the back up. On Wharton in particular, if the manager here won't give him a chance then loans him out to League 2 Clubs, and he does the business (2 seasons running) I don't see how Wharton can be criticised for that. You can only beat whats in front of you.