Saints have announced that some season ticket holders will see a reduction in their ticket for next season, although the bulk will see no change.

Saints have made reductions in season ticket prices next season, although the big surprise is that in many areas season ticket prices remain the same as last season, which to be frank are far too high.

It is good to see that Saints have slashed season ticket prices for those supporters behind the goals or in the wings, although they have not reduced the prices for the centre of the Itchen and Kingsland stands, nor the family section, meaning that the bulk of season ticket holders are going to have to pay exactly the same prices as last season if they are going to renew.

The club have proudly announced that 7,000 season ticket holders will see a reduction in prices, although that sounds a lot that is less than a third of this seasons total.

Although some reduction is better than none it is still falling far short of what other Premier League clubs have announced so far and it is also unfair on a large section of the clubs support who are being offered nothing whilst others something.

In short this year those who sit behind the goal paid £628 to renew their season tickets, next season they will pay £570, a reduction of £3.05 per game in the wings of the Itchen & Kingsland this year was £599 and next season will cost £570, barely a drop of £1.52 a game.

The club has said it is dropping these prices so those in the goals will not pay more than the £30 cap on visiting supporters tickets next season, this is absolute nonsense, it is not needed in regulatory terms.

This means that in the Itchen and Kingsland stands next season there will be supporters who sit just an aisle across each other, yet on one side of that aisle fans will pay £5,90 extra per game or in other terms £112 per season for an identical view.

I make no excuses I think football s overpriced these days, I applaud the club for making cheaper tickets available in some areas, but on the other hands what about the majority, this announcement gives them nothing.

This is very shortsighted of the club, they see the same statistics I do about attendances this season, they must see that St Mary's although still healthily full for most games has not sold out for all but a hnadful and even those have struggled.

If St Mary's is not packed out given the seasons we have had both this and last year then something has to give, next season we have to either challenge for the Champions league genuinely or there will be a drop in attendances as there were for the Watford home game when there were over 4,000 empty seats and barely 3,000 people who purchased single tickets for that game.

Short sighted ness from the club, if as they say this sees 7,000 supporters getting a cheaper tickets and the top saving has been £58 per person with the lower rate £29 at an average of £45 x7k this has cost the club £315 k, a drop in the ocean considering the increased amount of money in the Premier League next season.

The club should of and could have gone a lot further in its season ticket reductions this season and is worrying in that it shows a distinct lack of awareness within the club of its supporters and indeed the groundswell of opinion around the country.

Liverpool famously protested against proposed ticket increases next season, over 10,000 showed their disapproval and made the Liverpool board back track, I fear that will not happen here although it would have 15 years ago.

Here we will sit back and take it without a whimper, although I fear that many will vote with their feet and barring a late surge that takes us into the Champions league, there could be a significant drop in season ticket numbers next season and by virtue of that a drop in average attendances.

Photo: Action Images

SaintNick added 22:35 - Mar 29 The fact is adult tickets in the Premier league are overpriced, we need to look at Germany and what they have done there and how over the last 20 years they have gone from half empty decrepid stadiums, to massive grounds all near capacity through competitive pricing. I went to a Bundesliga game at Hertha Berlin a couple of weeks ago and it was 23 euros which worked out at £18.70 a ticket and this was not the cheapest section, I think there were two other parts of the ground cheaper, one at 15 euros and another at 18 euros

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aceofthebase added 08:52 - Mar 30 Solution to a full ground. Charge roughly the same for all season tickets. Don't care really how much we seem to sell 90% of the seats as season tickets. Guaranteed seats and suitable for the punter who can get to every match and afford to do so. Remaining seats sell at very cheap cost. Even as low as a tenner. The demand from the casual supporter, the poorer supporter,the young supporter, the distant supporter would be enormous and every seat in the ground would be sold every game. The casual supporter may not be able to purchase a ticket when he wants it and hey next season he may become a season ticket holder Following season increase ground capacity to 40,000 and continue with the above pricing.

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SonicBoom added 09:05 - Mar 30 It's got too much for me now and I went for years. You gotta draw the line somewhere and for me £40 is too much for 90 minutes of football considering most games are on tv somewhere. I agree with a previous poster that season tickets should be no more than 500. Also as someone else said, gate receipts are only a fraction of the clubs revenue nowdays. That being the case, why try to eek every penny from your fans? They could have made a real statement here and cut all ticket prices by at least 25% and they are still going to be £80 million better off per season with the new TV money. So you tell me why they don't do that....

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NewburySaint added 09:06 - Mar 30 I must admit I was shocked when I saw the announced prices yesterday-suffice to say I am an ST holder with a seat categorised in the Kingsland Centre (I say centre in the loosest possible term of the word because my seat is level with the edge of the penalty area so not that central!) who hasn't received a price decrease. Every year I am sent a survey to take part in, as I'm sure all other ST holders are as well, and every year since our return to the Championship I have been saying the same thing in that the prices are too expensive, and I'm sure I'm not the only 1 that would be saying this, but the club don't seem to listen, not to season ticket holders anyway. The only justification they can have for charging these prices, on top of the extra millions they will be getting from next season, is that we will be building a squad in the summer to at least finish in the top 6, if not challenging for the Champions League places, but I doubt if that will be the case. I wouldn't mind betting that outside of the so called big 5 or 6 teams that our prices will be the most expensive next season.......

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halftimeorange added 09:38 - Mar 30 I'd like to add that I've just bought tickets for three shows at The Mayflower. They have cost me £36.50, £40 and £44.50, respectively. The EPL is entertainment , too with some of the best stars in the world on display so why should the prices be any different? In fact the only difference is I'm guaranteed a performance at The Mayflower.
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halftimeorange added 10:11 - Mar 30 I've just paid £36, £40 and £45 respectively for tickets to three different shows at The Mayflower. The leads include Jules Holland and Pixie Lott. At Saints my team is full of international stars and the EPL is another form of entertainment so why should the pricing be any different. The only difference is that you know you'll get a decent performance at The Mayflower. Whilst enough people are prepared to pay the market rate nothing will change. One presumes that if Saints reduce their tickets by say, 20% then lower league clubs should do the same pro rata. Prices are determined by supply and demand for the resource on offer.

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ItchenNorth added 10:24 - Mar 30 Not exactly the answer this, but if you want a reduced price this year; move to the goal or wings. There are 1000s of seats sold in these sections that aren't season ticket seats. Also there's no point moaning on websites about any of this; the club(s) won't sit up and take notice. Fans must take it to the ground(s). Bring banners, sing songs, protest. It's the only way. Will Saints fans do this........ha, no chance. Someone mentioned Branfoot and this was the last time I can remember action taking effect on the clubs board; but that was 20 odd years ago! Wake up if you want to make your voice heard or stop moaning.

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saintmark1976 added 12:54 - Mar 30 Kat, I have got this really good idea for next season. Go on, what is it Ralph. Well, you know we have got about 21000 season ticket holders.Lets reduce the price for just 7000 of them. The other 14000 won't mind and even if they do then they will just argue with each other. Classic management deand rule tactics."All animals are equal but some are more equal than others"

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saintmark1976 added 12:59 - Mar 30 Sorry. Should have been devide and rule.Predictive text problem.
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