The club's announcement about season ticket prices has brought a mixed reaction from Saints supporters who have questioned just how much benefit the majority of the club's fanbase will get.

The first thing is that it is good that the club has not put up the prices ! but after that just about the only people who will get any benefit from the new pricing structure are those who are buying a season ticket for next season who do not have one this and that is going to be relatively few.

Seat prices at St Mary's have been too high after a massive price increase instigated by the regime of former Chairman Nicola Cortese and although they haven't risen since, for most supporters they have not gone down either and that is something that should have changed.

The fact the pricing structure is wrong has been shown in quite a few games this season where there have been several thousand empty seats in the home sections of St Mary's, yes some have become available when clubs have not taken up their full away support, but the fact that these seats haven't been sold suggests that they are too dear.
Many clubs are recognising that prices are too high and have reduced

A look around the Premier league will show you that an adult buying a season ticket behind the goal at Everton will pay £485 - £525, at Stoke a comparable club in size to Saints the price is £344, at West Brom £399 , neighbours Bournemouth £480 and Watford around £400.

Compare those prices for a ticket in the Northam End at £570 for adult fans current season ticket holders there is no difference whatsoever, the only difference is that they no longer get any benefit in terms of discount on the full price apart from having their seat reserved.

The only attraction is for new applicants for a season ticket who now pay a lower price than before ie the same price as those who have been season ticket holders this season and in many cases since the stadium opened.

This is good for attracting new season ticket holders but does nothing for retention going forward, on the plus side perhaps 1,000 people will see benefit, but 20,000 will feel a little short changed.

It is good to see that the club are promoting cheap season tickets for families, it should be noted these are the same prices as last season and they did not sell all of the family centre season tickets this season, so how are they going to do it next.

All this might do is make it harder to sell seats to adults for single games approaching sell outs, we now have an extra 2,000 family seats, but if those families did not sell out the current section, how are we going to magically fill a new area. Are we going to see a big empty swathe or are families in that area going to be potentially swamped for some games by those who are not perhaps so family orientated in their behaviour at football games.

The club have tried to dress up the announcement with a big fanfare to make it seem if this is a major revamp of their ticketing structure as well as promoting cheap tickets for families, the reality is that perhaps 1,000 new season ticket holders will save around £60- £70 on what they would have paid under the new structure, whilst those who have been loyal this season and seasons before get nothing and now they have created an extra family area they have effectively restricted potential single seat sales to adults.

The club have been very pro active in the past three years to make Southampton Football Club more of the vision that Markus Liebherr had for it, but the area they have not got it right in during that time, has been the ticketing structure and I'm afraid I can see little to cheer about unless you are a new season ticket applicant.

Photo: Action Images

GeordieSaint added 10:52 - Mar 29 Not sure it is fair to compare Saints and Stoke. Stoke Is an area of high unemployment and absolutely everything will be pricier 'darn sarf' than it is there.
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bigrob68 added 11:28 - Mar 29 The price to watch a game of football in the premier should be the same for all fans. being in a high unemployment area should make no difference, if you can afford a ticket on benefits that is a disgrace, if your working you should pay the same. £400 behind goals etc £500 halfway line etc etc etc etc all clubs same price.
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legod7 added 12:18 - Mar 29 If the price for a new season ticket was higher than a renewal then that would automatically be the price we would all have to pay in 2018/9. By keeping renewals and new ticket prices the same this season then there is a good chance that this time next year the renewal prices will not change.
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dillydog added 12:33 - Mar 29 I have been lucky enough to be declared disabled , so my ticket will go down by £140.00 Happy days
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SNAILOB added 13:02 - Mar 29 So in short, I will not pay anymore for my ticket next year ? Whats the problem ? With regards to new customers, try being a long standing customer of Sky, Virgin etc.. I'm more than happy to see new blood at St Marys and not too concerned about what deal the next man gets for one year.
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SaintNick added 13:27 - Mar 29 Snailob that is a very blinkered im all right jack view, so what is the problem ? The problem is that we are not selling out st mary's at these prices so how can we hope to next season, tuesday's game against Palace still has about 2,500 seats left and that is assuming Palace dont send any back Try ringing sky and telling them you are defecting to Virgin, they will soon offer you a cheaper deal I want to see new blood, but I cant see how we are going to attract it, ironically the attendances have gone down slightly in direct correllation to our league position going up, so something isnt right somewhere

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GeordieSaint added 13:54 - Mar 29 I think you misunderstand my point about more affluent areas bigrob. Saints would undoubtedly pay their staff more, local suppliers more, higher costs all round. When unemployment is high it a lot easier to get cheap labour, therefore, It is highly likely that it costs more to run a matchday experience in Southampton than it would in Stoke. With that logic you could argue house prices or the price of a pint should be the same everywhere in the country.

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GeordieSaint added 13:55 - Mar 29 I forgot, people generally also earn a lot less on average in Stoke n Southampton.
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bigrob68 added 14:07 - Mar 29 Geordie, I'm saying we should pay the same as them, the money the club makes from ticket sales is a tiny drop in the ocean as to the money from TV etc, there will be little if any difference between our income and Stoke FC.
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SaintNick added 14:27 - Mar 29 I take Geordie Saints point, but the biggest cost of running a football club is players wages, Im sure that players dont accept pay cuts to join Stoke on that basis
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halftimeorange added 16:39 - Mar 29 I can only repeat what I said last year. If you want to see some of the world's top performers then you have to pay what the promoters consider is the going rate with all the financial analysis and market research they have available to them. It doesn't matter whether it's at St Marys or The Mayflower, if you want to see the show you find the money or make do with MOTD or YouTube. Unless attendances start falling across England prices will not follow. Pay up or shut up. There are plenty of cheaper forms of entertainment.

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1970 added 17:04 - Mar 29 I for one wont be renewing my 16+ years season ticket along with many others I'm sure, the constant selling of our ambition has finally got to me and the selling of our soul to please the away fans is just another big blow for me.COYR
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SaintBrock added 17:15 - Mar 29 ...."those who have been loyal this season and seasons before get nothing" In a nutshell Nick! Hope your article will be read by people upstairs but it is too late to expect change anything now and next year they will have b'd off and no doubt we'll be paying in Yauns (some might say as usual?).
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SaintBrock added 17:25 - Mar 29 1970, every time I say that my wife reminds me that it is exactly what was said last year and the year before and the year before that. Very quickly we are back to the row over Ron Davies leaving which was definitely the last straw for me. Never felt the same about Kevin Keegan always thought of him as a mercenary. The one thing about the ticket announcement which raised a spark of hope in me was the pic of our man Virgil fronting up the campaign which might suggest that he will stay for a while longer. He always talks about "my boys" after all.

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Saintcole7 added 18:05 - Mar 29 SaintBrook, I admire your hope with VVD but I remember getting an e-mail "from" a certain R Koeman last year when I renewed!
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SNAILOB added 21:18 - Mar 29 SaintNick, how many calls did you get from people, who have not stepped into the stadium for years, looking for cup final tickets ? There were plenty of people looking to pay huge sums for those! If the club dropped the prices (which would be nice - I struggle to pay as much as the next man), I don't believe you would see a big jump in attendance. The club have made a 'gesture' yet still people find cause for complaint. I am grateful I will not be paying more ( obviously would like it cheaper) and fail to see this as an 'I'm alright jack' attitude. I just struggle to find why club is criticised for doing/trying this.

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saintmark1976 added 21:22 - Mar 29 Given that there appears to be no financial incentive in renewing early it will be interesting to see how many current season ticket holders just play "wait and see" as to which of our players are transferred in the close season. Yes,they may lose their current seat but there appears little doubt that they will be able to get another in a different part of the ground. What can't be denied is that football in general is simply too expensive at Southampton as is witnessed by the fact that we appear unable to sell out even for a South Coast derby.Then again I do not suppose that worries the management as after all their main source of income is from the T V rights.

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SaintBrock added 13:27 - Mar 30 This is probably the last year of Liebherr's ownership so freezing prices may be her idea of a farewell gesture to regulars although a price reduction might have been in order in these circumstances. When (/if) the Chinese take over it is likely the whole price structure will be reviewed upwards to help offset the long march to make their investment pay off.
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