11/12 P-A-Y Go v ST comparison

[lennythekad]

Following the first half of the season price comparison I posted at the turn of the year, here is what I would have paid on a match by match basis for the entire season.
One or two people thought it was a bit misleading for some reason, so to clarify a couple of things, the following applied.
I didn't mind where in the ground I sat (always Lower Holte, Upper Trinity or North Stand Lower), sometimes I sat on my own, I was always in a position financially to buy at the optimum time, I could always take advantage of 2-4-1 deals, I had ST holders who could get my ticket to take advantage of deals, any Viagogo purchases include their fees, and if I sat in the Trinity Upper, I always moved from A1 to a seat smack on the half way line.

Blackburn £15
Wolves £25
Newcastle £20
Wigan £5
WBA £25
Norwich £10
Man U £26
L'pool £26
Arsenal £20
Swansea £14
Everton £26
QPR £10
Man C £20
Fulham £10
Bolton £18
Chelsea £26
Stoke £20
Sund'land £14
Spurs £ 26 (guess based on other top prices)

CC games
Hereford £10
Bolton £5

Total for all Lge games is £356, against £480 I would have paid for my Lower Holte ST this season.
 
The cut price food/drink vouchers, sticker for my seat and AVTV access are of no interest to me. The only away game I wouldn't have been able to get a ticket for was Bristol Rovers in the cup, (although I could have got one via a ST holding friend).

If you don't mind where you sit, it's a no brainer really, in the current situation.

[pauliewalnuts]

I told the woman who called from the ticket office about that - she said "yeah but your seats are in a premium area and you won't get them on a PAYG basis with the offers"

I pointed out that this season, there are plenty empty, so you can move from the wings to pretty much wherever you want to go.

[Legion]

Thanks for that breakdown. It's something I'm seriously considering doing next season. I think my current ST is £520 so I'd be around £200 better off as I do not always manage to get to every home game, especially in August.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I think quite a few people will decline to renew and take up the offers on a match by match basis.

People are just not prepared to dish out a lump sum to watch boring garbage on a regular basis.

[lennythekad]

Thanks for that breakdown. It's something I'm seriously considering doing next season. I think my current ST is £520 so I'd be around £200 better off as I do not always manage to get to every home game, especially in August.

I'll be similarly better of too Leeg, as I'll have missed half a dozen homes by the end of the season, meaning I'll have spent about £260, instead of £480 and paying for games I can't attend.

[olaftab]

It is about supporting our club and that is why I always renew. However next season I will not renew if this man is still in charge. I want to see us score more than goal a game and win at least half of out home games. That is not too much to ask.

[The Left Side]

A very interesting read, thanks for posting... if more ST fans did this I think Randy would have to sit up and take notice of what we want (which is AM out and enjoyable football back in B6, in case he is reading this).

[eamonn]

I told the woman who called from the ticket office about that - she said "yeah but your seats are in a premium area and you won't get them on a PAYG basis with the offers"

I pointed out that this season, there are plenty empty, so you can move from the wings to pretty much wherever you want to go.

I thought you preferred your season ticket, thought if you're missing a good chunk of games maybe you're better off ditching it.

[pauliewalnuts]

I told the woman who called from the ticket office about that - she said "yeah but your seats are in a premium area and you won't get them on a PAYG basis with the offers"

I pointed out that this season, there are plenty empty, so you can move from the wings to pretty much wherever you want to go.

I thought you preferred your season ticket, thought if you're missing a good chunk of games maybe you're better off ditching it.

I do, and naybe i will, but I don't see the relevance of that to this point.

The argument that the cheap seats are in the shitter parts of the stand doesn't really stand up to scrutiny if you can pick a seat in the wings on a cheap deal and then move to any one of several thousand empty seats in the pricier areas.

[amfy]

I have to admit to not being that familiar with viagogo, but looking at the os I'm struggling to see where these figures come from, unless in your run down of that fantastic set of prevailing conditions which enable you to always get the best price you forgot to mention that you"re a child or a pensioner.

[lennythekad]

I have to admit to not being that familiar with viagogo, but looking at the os I'm struggling to see where these figures come from, unless in your run down of that fantastic set of prevailing conditions which enable you to always get the best price you forgot to mention that you"re a child or a pensioner.

I'm 55, so don't qualify for the reductions you mention. As for "fantastic set of prevailing conditions", I'm in work and know several season ticket holders, as do thousands of others I suspect, who could and do take advantage of any offers. I can't remember every individual deal, but I've used the "tick tick Thursday" offers, there was a deal involving L'pool, Manu and Arsenal as a package, and offers to ST holders to buy additional cheap tickets have benefited me. Re. Viagogo, if you say you don't know much about them, you won't know that they sell tickets for games well below any price Villa will sell them for, eg - two Swansea adults tickets in the Trinity Upper for £11 each, plus £6 handling fees, comes out at £14 each.
Your comments seem to intimate that I've manipulated or made up figures. This is 100% not the case. If you just look at the OS ticket page without looking elsewhere you wouldn't have got the prices I've quoted.

[amfy]

I did say that I'm not familiar with viagogo as a ST holder I haven"t needed to be. I don't think you've fiddled it I just think things like always being able to buy at the optimum price sounds like hard work for me personally. My lower Holte ST is £405 a.d I like where I sit & who I sit with so I'm possibly a bit slower to see the advantages of your way of doing things. I'm also wondering how it works if all yoir ST holding friends decide yours is the way forward.

[lennythekad]

I suppose a lot of it comes down to how much disposable income people have, which probably also affects how much time they are prepared to spend shopping around. Doing a lot of deals means not having to find any lump sums at any time also. Having said that, I take your point about sitting by a regular crowd though, as up to last season there were six of us sat together in the Lower Holte L3.
Re. my other ST holding friends doing what I do, it'd just mean I'd probably use Viagogo a bit more I guess. I also appreciate it wouldn't be good for the club if large numbers of fans did this either, but after forty five years at VP, I intend to see games for as little as possible, especially given the paucity of the entertainment on show at the moment.
Apolgies if my initial reply came across as a bit arsey btw.

[Rob92]

Interesting reading and is another reason why getting an ST isn't the be all and end all, especially if you're not from the West Midlands... Although being a Southerner who goes on his own, I'm not sure I can get the same sort of value on 2-for-1 offers!

[SoccerHQ]

Similar to the OP here's mine for this season....

Regularly sit in the North Stand and the season ticket price there is £405 IIRC.

Blackburn- (£15)- Holte end wings and internet offer on club website.
Wolves (20)- Trinity upper and again internet offer.
Newcastle (20)- North stand, internet offer.
Wigan (15)- North stand, internet offer.
WBA (25)- North stand, internet offer.
Norwich (24)- North stand, normal ticket price as no offer.
Manure (30)- Same as Norwich
Liverpool (25)- Trinity upper, Viagogo
Arsenal (20), Trinity, Viagogo.
Swansea (13), Trinity, viagogo
Everton (20)- North stand, internet offer.
QPR- (13)- Trinity, Viagogo.
Man. City (20)- Trinity, Viagogo.

So the season tally currently stands at 260. 13 home games been played so that averages out as 20 quid per game. If that trend continues for the last 6 games, I'd have paid more or less 380 quid for all the games this season saving me 25 quid so effectively one free home game (wish they'd alll been free given the dross we've been watching this season).

I think the club needs to bring down matchday prices a bit as I believe that scrares people off from going to the game especially if you've had a season ticket for donkeys years. Say you've stopped having a season ticket and then decide to want to go to a game against Liverpool or Arsenal the I'd say 40 quid for a seat in the trinity or Witton upper will probably put you off.