As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
I'm torn on this... from 1990 to about 2005/2006 I used to get over anywhere between 10 to 15 home games a year, a couple aways and at least one European trip - no matter what shit was on the pitch. If I had the money I still would.
But now with the wife, kids, mortgage, school fees, a 14% pay cut etc etc I will be lucky to get over to 2 or 3 home games this season at best... So the decision has been made for me by financial constraints.
I can see though how some of our diehards are reconsidering their position (to get mugged off by the club every week would probably affect me similarly) - but for me, I go so rarely now I'd take any game and watch any old shit TBH.
I'm reasonably well off so money is not the deciding factor but there is a general feeling of being careful with money etc.
I just looked back at my membership details and counted up that I went to 20 games last season, most with Chippy Jnr. At an absolute minimum that is £2000! With all the other stuff probably knocking on £3k.
I've already cut back on numbers of games, (e.g. not going to the Olympiacos or Alkmaar games) and think I will do probably less than 15 this season. As said above you do begrudge paying top dollar to watch the likes of Eboue, Bendtner and Denilson while knowing we think 4th place is our ambition.
The Blackburn game went on General Sale today and there are still some sections showing as green. The club must be worried.
BTW I am still showing as 18564 th on the ST waiting list which means I haven't moved since last year.
I think General Sale will still sell out for the next few years or so... there must be thousands of people who want to see arsenal once a season, but don't want to shell out £30 on a membership for their trouble..... not necessarily Arsenal fans, but football fans in general. So the club won't be too worried just yet.
As for the burgers/beer deal used in Texas, I don't think that would work. Aren't Delaware completely seperate - ie, they pay for the hire of the kiosks and any money made is kept by them?
Chippy wrote:I'm reasonably well off so money is not the deciding factor but there is a general feeling of being careful with money etc.
I just looked back at my membership details and counted up that I went to 20 games last season, most with Chippy Jnr. At an absolute minimum that is £2000! With all the other stuff probably knocking on £3k.
I've already cut back on numbers of games, (e.g. not going to the Olympiacos or Alkmaar games) and think I will do probably less than 15 this season. As said above you do begrudge paying top dollar to watch the likes of Eboue, Bendtner and Denilson while knowing we think 4th place is our ambition.
The Blackburn game went on General Sale today and there are still some sections showing as green. The club must be worried.
BTW I am still showing as 18564 th on the ST waiting list which means I haven't moved since last year.
Well hello Mr Chippy!
Personally I reached a tipping point last season when I paid £67 to watch us draw 0-0 game with West Ham with a very lacklustre game. But other times I've paid £30 to watch us outclass Villareal and welcome back Bobby P and it feels worth it.
This season my philosophy is to only buy lower tier, £30 tickets and if not officially, through exchange. The pub thing is less of an option because I live in South London and am surrounded by Man U or Liverpool twats when I got to my locals.
And I dont spend money in the ground. Its £1 for a bag of chips nearby so why would you? And drinking warm beer in a concrete hall where you can't smoke doesnt appeal either.
But something needs to give. You simply cannot charge what Arsenal do and not show reinvestment. I thought they'd cottoned onto that with the Arshavin deal, which looked like a real crowd-pleaser and was an unusual step of buying an established world-class name, but this summer's transfer window proved that wasnt a turning point.
The thing is the club know that they are always going to get some mug willing to go, we have a massive fan base. As long as attendances don't drop below say 50,000 i don't think they care to much and will just make it up anyway by raising beer prices up by 20p. Some people have got more money than sense and that is pretty obvious these days by looking at the sort of crowd we get now.
But as far im i know DELEWARE get ALL the money for the catering.
Arsenal sold a 20 year franchaise with those thieving crunts.
WE ARE STUCK WITH DELEWARE....
I'm quite pleased by this news to be honest. Yes, it's bad for our income, but we've sold out for the best part of four years and we still barely buy anyone, so I've kinda lost interest. Additionally, it hopefully means that the glory hunters are drifting away too, meaning the real fans can get tickets again.
It's my policy this season to not go to any games that are on TV. With my Sky/ESPN subscription already £54, I simply can't justify then spending an additional £60+ on the Spuds game.
So I'll go to the non-televised games, which already includes the Portsmouth and Wigan games. And like the poster above, I'll only ever go if I can get a lower tier ticket at £32. Anything upwards of £40, based on our current performances, is daylight robbery.
£48 on the North Bank Upper was just about acceptable to watch the Invincibles, but not to watch Song, Eboue, Denilson, Bendtner, Diaby and co.
Like to make the point that money does not = JCL. I am a working class lad who has supported Arsenal for 40 years. I just happen to do well in my career and have a little bit of money.
BT Mrs Chippy is quite a large lady and nice and quiet until riled! However these days I don't think she would put up much of a fight for me.
mrgnu1958 wrote:But as far im i know DELEWARE get ALL the money for the catering.
Arsenal sold a 20 year franchaise with those thieving crunts.
WE ARE STUCK WITH DELEWARE....
They really piss me off. As I said a number of times I go with Chippy Jnr who is 13. I like to wait for the qs for the tube to subside before I go home and don't really want to do the battle in one of the local boozers with a 13yo in tow. Last Saturday was a typical example. After the game I went to one of the counters. I counted 13 people behind it, only 2 were serving. There were more than 10 people in each q and guess what, they ran out of coffee and beer. Of course when you do get served you pay 5* prices for total crap. Something must be done about these useless crooks!
There's definitely more games going to General Sale, although CL matches against Kiev & Roma (i think) also went to General Sale last season. I can only see it getting worse as well. I think it'll take about another 2 seasons before the club actually take any action; eg drop ticket prices (not likely) or invest in the team so that for the ridiculous prices we pay, we're at least seeing us challenge for the title.
The thing is though that as expensive as it may be, as dead as the atmosphere is & as poor as the team can be at times, going to see The Arsenal is probably the highlight of my week. I don't spend £50 a night getting wasted every Friday & Saturday, going to Arsenal is the only big leisure expense I have. I know it's my kind of attitude that the club are using to justify them shafting us out of every penny we've got so I do at times feel like i'm helping to feed the beast. It's a vicious circle.
Manure's most expensive ticket (not including boxes/hospitality etc) is half the price of our most expensive ticket, and look at the great players & silverware they get to see for their money. Pisstake!
Like others have mentioned, I do resent paying through the nose to watch endless sideways passing against the likes of Sunderland, West Ham etc. Paying £150 odd for those 3 home 0-0 draws last season was almost the final straw. As much as possible i'm trying to get hold of the £32 lower tier tickets as I feel that's about justifiable. For the bigger games, if need be i'll settle for an Upper Tier seat but not for more than £43. I wouldn't have a problem paying a bit more if what we saw on the pitch was a bit more respectable.
At the end of the day i'm sure we're all getting pretty fed up of being shafted by the team we love simply for the "pleasure" of watching 90mins of football. I give what little money I have to Arsenal in the hope of seeing a great team play some amazing football & lift some silverware. I don't donate it to a bunch of cigar-smoking old duffers to line their pockets or pay off some crackpot housing scheme.
Can't remember the exact figures quoted the other day on another thread but the lists for ST, Silver and Red members still total over 100,000, All these people have to pay to be members so whilst I understand the argument about 4th place, Eboue etc, it does surprise me that games go to general sale when so many people supposedly became members to get tickets!!
Like a lot of people on here, although me and my lad are ST holders, I'm having to let mates go on my tickets to a lot more games this year purely because of having to pay off the credit card that I paid AFC with! It kills me but I've got to be sensible. The only other choice is giving the tickets up but I think I'd rather lick piss off a nettle. I waited since 1992 for them. can't give 'em up now!
Like Chippy, I am a working class boy who has done OK and can easily avoid the season tickets that I have waited the best part of a decade for.
But like the rest of you, I feel the club are ripping people off by charging absolutely top dollar but failing to sign absolutely top players.
We pay as much or more than Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Man United fans, so why can we not buy the odd £20million player like all of teh above plus Man City seem able to do?
However there are still 45,000 ST holders, ?? Silvers and 75,000 reds plus 40,000 plus ST waiting list members. I don't think the club are too worried yet!!
The catering is shit. Absolutely terrible beer - do you know I have had ONE beer in the stadium since it opened because I don't choose to pay top price for flat, warm lager in a concrete bunker!! I have never yet bought food (I would rather starve and frequently DO!!) Instead I have a few beers before the game in TBOF and have a curry when I get home to Surrey at 2330 (after night games). How do we get rid of Delaware???!!
You have to wonder where the money goes and if this model within football is sustainable.
The reference to the most expensive manure ticket being half the price of our most expensive is a sure sign of how things are. yes they have a bigger stadium, but still a club like manure must be soo over subscribed that they could charge what they want, but they don't. So where does their money come from. The amount of cash that is pumped into that club compared to the amount they make on ticket sales leads to a bad debt cycle, there is no point charging you'r fans less than what it costs to run a football club but you have to charge them enough to keep the thing running with a profit and i think thats where our problem lies.
Arsenal charge us loads because they have little from external sources, other clubs charge loads coz they have external funding. One has to give, either we go bust coz no-one attends games and we end up getting bought out and essentially turn to the chavs / citeh model of football or the people that fund these other clubs realise how much money its costing them and pull out and are then forced to raise their ticket prices to stay afloat.
