Southampton Football Club have announced the prices for season tickets for their return to the Premier League in season 2012/13 and there have been a few changes to the category's

Saints have clearly thought out their strategy for ticket prices next season, firstly for individual tickets they will be returning to the old format of different category games, however instead of gold silver and bronze they will now be called A, B & C with five games being in A Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd & Liverpool and seven in each of the other categories, purs surprisingly being relegated to only a B class from their gold status last time we were in the top flight.

The other change is in dividing up areas, the Itchen & Kingsland will go from two categories, ie centre & Wings, to three, Premium, Centre & Wings, basically self explanatory with Premium being those seats that are dead centre.

So how do the prices compare, to take the kingsland as an example, bearing in mind that prices in the Itchen & Chapel will be the same as the prices in the Wings, they are as follows.

Premium Centre £675 (Equivalent to £35.52 a game)

Centre £625 ( £32.89 a game)

Wings/goals £575 (£30.26 a game)

For new applications the prices are.

Premium Centre £720 (£37.89)

Centre £670 (£35.26)

Wings/Goals £600 (£31.57)

There are other prices for concessions etc that are far more detailed to go into on here.

But there will be a installment plan for those that cant afford to pay it all in one go, if we take the wings goal stand as an example the renewal installment plan works out as follows 25% down in June for existing holders then £50 is added to the remaining balance and divided into six monthly instalments ie £143 deposit, then £431 + £50 =£481 divided by six = £71.87 per month, the plan for new season ticket holders is similar, but the downpayment is in July followed by five installments rather than six.

How does this compare to other clubs, in truth it sits somewhere towards the top end of the middle, Fulham, Norwich & Swansea are as you would expect significantly cheaper, whilst Arsenal Chelsea and Spurs are much higher, our prices arent set to attract season ticket holders through price, but to attract them through savings on what will be quite expensive matchday tickets with the most expensive match day seat in the A category perhaps heading towards the £45- £50 mark.

In many respects its a pricing policy that at the bottom end will please the fans in the cheaper seats £575 and £30 a game is perhaps a reasonable figure to watch Premier football, but for those in the Premium category its quite a price hike around £150 on last seasons prices, perhaps aimed at driving some out to the cheaper seats thus freeing up the centre seats for the Category A games when premium prices can be charged to the day trippers, in short there are pros and cons for these season ticket prices, whilst some holes can be picked in them on one hand, on the other there are also plenty of positives, yes its expensive to watch premier football, but thats a debate for another time.

The real plus point though is that they are allowing season ticket holders plenty of time to renew, on line sales start on June 6th for two weeks and then on 20th June they add the option of telephone or in person until June 30th, again the strategy is clear, rightly or wrongly they are pushing supporters into renewing online for obvious reasons, not least cost.

New applications will then be entertained on line and telephone only from July2nd -9th and then from the 9th till 31st July they can also be bought in person.

Strangely though season ticket sales of any description will end on 31st July some 18 days before the season starts, given that excitement builds in those final days before the season starts, this is usually prime selling time for new season tickets, yet we are stopping dead almost three weeks before the season kicks off, im sure there is a good reason.

Photo: Action Images

landsdownsaint added 14:41 - May 23 Very reasonable on the scale of things !
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bstokesaint added 17:35 - May 23 To be as expected I would say. Looking forward to getting my first ever season ticket, after watching from a large array of different seats for the past two seasons.
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Whatsforpud added 17:38 - May 23 I am a 'concession' ( over 65) in block 18, centre Chapel. This area, for a least the past two years has been designated as Family Area, and consequently seemed to be getting away with a low-priced Season ticket. Last season I only paid £255. For the new season, the Family Area is purely the Chapel/Kingsland corner. Now my season ticket will be £470. So with the redesignation of the seat, plus the general price rise means an 84% increase. Sounds a lot, but it will work out at under £25 per match. Does anyone else in a similar position think that the previous £11 per match (with 4 more games) was too good to be true?

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Jesus_02 added 19:51 - May 23 Have had a season ticket since the season that saints went down. Unfortunately for me I am in the blocks that have now been designated as being part of the centre stand rather than the wings. Basically my season ticket has jumped up £300 in two seasons! from £365 to £466 and now £625. Suddenly Sky sports seems very good value! I guess the largest reason I got a season ticket when we went down was because it suddenly became affordable so its no shock. It just explains the reason for the slightly muted celebrations at the end of the season

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saintBob added 20:10 - May 23 From £20/game last season to £30/game next season. A fair price for a Premiership game but that's a 50% hike! So much for promotion to the Premiership being worth £90m in funds for the club, it's another dip into the pocket for the loyal fan!
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simmo400 added 06:11 - May 24 If you cant afford it dont bother, like everthing else it has its price.
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DJI added 08:34 - May 24 saintsBob, the £90m is not a cash fund given to us, it represents the earning potential that promotion to the Premier League brings. As I understand it, included in that sum are extra sponsorship, broadcasting revenue and the 4-year parachute payments should we be relegated. The Club has to be "in it to win it" so for now, the Customers have to pay for the entertainment. Some people have made comments that we are more expensive than Man City but they forget, our stadium cannot hold what theirs can so they can afford to spread the cost, knowing they will fill their stadium and bring extra revenue from Merchandising and Concourse sales. We on the other hand, have to rely on a core of ST holders and the hope some fair-weather fans might turn up in their numbers. My personal view is that I would have liked existing ST holders to have been given something more than what represents a £50 discount off normal prices. Perhaps a free ticket to our first home Cup match as an additional "thank you' for loyalty down the years and for parting with their cash in one lump sum early. Either way, I had budgeted for an increase of this amount so I will be in that number, when the Saints go marching in!

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bstokesaint added 12:28 - May 24 Given that I paid for just about every game on the day last season I think a ST will save me money! My wife and her dad our ST holders in the central Kingsland and they seem relatively content with their new ticket prices for renewal. I guess it's all down to expectation. We are Premier League now and will be entertaining some of the best players in the world and that comes at a cost. We'll also be paying more for our players to retain them and paying out larger sums to bring better players are in. Okay, a lot more games will now be on Sky, but does it really compare to the atmosphere in the ground..? I can't really see any ST holders being put off completely, although there may be some more moving round the ground to diferent blocks. Would love to see more kids in the ground, because now we're back in the Premiership there's even more reason for local children to support their local side.

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saintBob added 13:50 - May 24 I think some 1st round cup games used to be included a few years ago - someone will probably clarify that one. Simm400: I've had a season ticket for 16 years and will renew. I was purely making a statement. A good answer for anything but rather flippant. The past few seasons have been reasonably priced for the standard of football and I don't see many people being put off as football fans being what they are, the hard core will always be there, but why the difference in ticket price for various parts of the ground? For me, in a new stadium like St Mary's (unlike the Dell) you can get a good view of the game from any seat -it only varies from the front to higher up at the back.

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ardashuxford added 14:13 - May 25 Last year Block 34 was the same price as the Northam end even though it was just around the corner. Suddenly it has become part of the Kingsland Stand, so for us the price rise is from £460 to £625 (£165 for lamo's without calculators). Serves me right for joining in with "We're the Kingsland over here". Bottom line is, if you don't like it don't buy it, but for Scummers like us that's not an option. Next year's price rise will be determined by our average gate, if we're getting 32k every game then up it will go again, that's business.

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