Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[chrisw1]

I figure it costs more because to be competitive than ever before.

What’s your explanation?

If you think £97 for a football match is necessary, then you must be happy being fleeced.

if you think £97 is too much, just dont go

You sound like someone who has no idea of what a being a football fan is. 

really ?
you clearly know me and my history...well done.
twat !

He says 'sound like'  And he's bang on.

[LeeB]

He sure is.

[Dave]

I figure it costs more because to be competitive than ever before.

What’s your explanation?

If you think £97 for a football match is necessary, then you must be happy being fleeced.

if you think £97 is too much, just dont go

You sound like someone who has no idea of what a being a football fan is. 

really ?
you clearly know me and my history...well done.
twat !

Less of the abuse please.

[The Edge]

I figure it costs more because to be competitive than ever before.

What’s your explanation?

If you think £97 for a football match is necessary, then you must be happy being fleeced.

if you think £97 is too much, just dont go

Yep, thanks for your decades of loyal support, dedication and sacrifice, now pay up or fuck off!!

Exactly. So if 97 quid is too much because they have young families and can't afford it his attitude is "fuck em" What a horrible way to look at it. I've spent my whole life with the attitude of looking out for the little guy. Seems some people have zero empathy for their fellow man (or woman) so long as "I'm alright Jack"

[paul_e]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

[chrisw1]

But given the time lag on stadium developments, don't we need to be doing those now if we want the benefit in 5 years time?

[The Edge]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

But matchday ticket prices are just a small percentage of actual revenue. There was no need to hit loyal supporters so hard. Other clubs have continually raised revenues without resorting to hammering loyal supporters in the pocket.

[Brend'Watkins]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

Sponsors is where the big increase in income should be coming from.  I've stated before, if ManU can partner up with pressure washing and compressor companies why can't we do similar?  Okay, it needs sustained achievements to become interesting to these organisations as our global reach becomes bigger but we can start with more of them on a smaller scale.  It will take a lot of effort and hard work but it's what we should be aiming at.  Heck wants to use the low hanging fruit to get almost instant gratification in an effort to get his bonus.

[paul_e]

But given the time lag on stadium developments, don't we need to be doing those now if we want the benefit in 5 years time?

Probably but we have no idea where things are internally. We know there were plans for the North Stand in place that we were ready to go with and we know they decided to hold off on that work. We also know that we added experts in these sort of developments to the board nearly 6months ago and we've been told that moving away from Villa Park isn't on the table.

At a guess I'd suggest they haven't been sitting on their hands since April and instead they've been working through the options to make the most of the site. When we'll hear anything is impossible to say right now but I wouldn't be massively surprised if the first we hear is a new planning application at some point in the next 12-18months.

[chrisw1]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

But matchday ticket prices are just a small percentage of actual revenue. There was no need to hit loyal supporters so hard. Other clubs have continually raised revenues without resorting to hammering loyal supporters in the pocket.

You think?

Have you seen match-day prices at Arsenal and Spurs?  Their cheapest ST is well over a grand and their CAT A prices are higher than ours.  And that's with Spurs adding over 26k to their capacity in one fell swoop.

[chrisw1]

But given the time lag on stadium developments, don't we need to be doing those now if we want the benefit in 5 years time?

Probably but we have no idea where things are internally. We know there were plans for the North Stand in place that we were ready to go with and we know they decided to hold off on that work. We also know that we added experts in these sort of developments to the board nearly 6months ago and we've been told that moving away from Villa Park isn't on the table.

At a guess I'd suggest they haven't been sitting on their hands since April and instead they've been working through the options to make the most of the site. When we'll hear anything is impossible to say right now but I wouldn't be massively surprised if the first we hear is a new planning application at some point in the next 12-18months.

Hope so Paul.  A new North makes so much sense to me.

[Dogtanian]

The way I see it is that fans are the football equivalent of the Bank of Mom & Dad. It's easy to ask supporters for more money because we love the club almost unconditionally, and we expect very little in return.

Getting more money from owners is limited by rules...
Getting more money from competitions requires more money spent...
Getting more money from sponsors requires more success which requires more money spent...

So unfortunately, it ends up with us mugs putting our hands in our pockets again because we're the soft touch.

[Beard82]

The way I see it is that fans are the football equivalent of the Bank of Mom & Dad. It's easy to ask supporters for more money because we love the club almost unconditionally, and we expect very little in return.

Getting more money from owners is limited by rules...
Getting more money from competitions requires more money spent...
Getting more money from sponsors requires more success which requires more money spent...

So unfortunately, it ends up with us mugs putting our hands in our pockets again because we're the soft touch.

I think that this is a big part of it. 

[amfy]

I think what they have underestimated is how many of us were already feeling we were paying too much, already actually were paying too much against our incomes.

That pricing just finally told a huge chunk of people that it’s time to stop trying to keep up.

That’s the problem they won’t see just yet, but there’ll be more than just those who didn’t buy for this game, that are thinking this season might be their last as a regular.

[Risso]

The way I see it is that fans are the football equivalent of the Bank of Mom & Dad. It's easy to ask supporters for more money because we love the club almost unconditionally, and we expect very little in return.

Getting more money from owners is limited by rules...
Getting more money from competitions requires more money spent...
Getting more money from sponsors requires more success which requires more money spent...

So unfortunately, it ends up with us mugs putting our hands in our pockets again because we're the soft touch.

But the extra amount added by the fans, is a relative pittance in the grand scheme of things in terms of the club's income. Of course it all adds up, but then you think what we're paying a player like Dobbin, and his amortisation in a year, for someone who I'd be surprised if he ever plays a single minute for us. The amounts being charged are huge for the supporters though, and while people may well suck it up for our first ever Champions League game, long term it's not a sustainable position.