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gazban

Season Ticket Policy?

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I wonder if the atmosphere at the ground is down to the high number of season tickets that have been sold aswell as the s**t football. Fans are forced to go as they want to get their monies worth and are just fed up with the rubbish being served up each game. You will always get a hardcore of season ticket holders (probably about 12000) who go regardless, and the casual supporter who just wants a day out. At the moment we are getting over 23000 attending, which is fine when we are playing well as they want to be there and enjoy it, obviously the opposite kicks in when they are sat, fed up and wanting to be somewhere else.

IMO most of these supporters renewed a) in fear of not getting in if the team did turn it around and b) because they new Worthy wouldn''t last and a new manager might turn it around and (a) would happen. I think the balloon will burst on the boards season ticket policy next year.

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I agree if we fail this season (most likly)  next season we will see a lot of season ticket holders giving it up i rekon we will be seeing 18000 to 20000 crowds next season.

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so are you suggesting that about half of the season ticket holders who have shown faith in the club by shelving out over 300 notes a season should be denied the right to do so next year to make way for casual supporters who turn up when the weathers not to bad and a big club rolls into town, are you honestly suggesting these ''fans'' would be more vocal...

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Quite true gazban, Casual supporters can vote with their feet by attending (or not) on the day, whilst season ticket holders have already committed their cash to attend any day regardless..It would be interesting to see how much attendances would fluctuate nowadays if there were no season tickets.In the days when the Carrow Road was three quarters standing only, I have been in crowds ranging from 6000 to 43000 without having to prepay.

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I am not saying the policy is wrong and it has meant a full Carrow rd week in/ week out. What I am saying is that it has a big effect on the atmosphere when the team is poor. I was a season ticket holder for the previous 5 years and for spells previous ( I''m in the forces), but just couldn''t warrant spending saturday afternoon away from the family, bored and frustrated, while I work away all week. I just sit by the radio instead! 

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I know that quite a few ''season tickets'' are held by companies for use by their staff and visitors. I personally know of about 25 seats which are used by people not remotely interested in Norwich City....but come to games ''for a laugh''. Several are armchair Man U supporters.....the others don''t even like football particularly. It''s become the ''thing to do'' in certain quarters because it''s free and part of their ''perks''.......not much hope of an atmosphere being created if this is rife around the ground.

The NCFC season ticket lark is a scam in my view and regulars are now almost blackmailed into renewing for fear of being locked out if they don''t. It''s preying on the supporters'' loyalty....with the old "you know what will happen if the team starts doing well" routine hanging over their head. So, like me they pay up hoping for better things.

Surely (passion wise) it''s far better to have 18,000 in the ground who really want to be there.....than a whole load more who feel hoodwinked into coming because they''ve paid already.......Hardly the way to conjure up a crowd frenzy in my view.

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Are people seriously suggesting that fans spend £300+ on season tickets but don''t really want them? That''s unreal! The clubs season ticket policy has its critics but it''s good value for money if you renew at the first renewal stage.

 

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But bums on seats brings in the revenue that should hopefully go toward buidling a better squad..................you could have 3000 people shouting loud but the club will be skint and hence the squad would be rubbish. Season tickets are the financial bedrock of the club on which they can specualte how much they can pay out in wages etc 

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a lot of people buy a season ticket as the only guarantee of getting the tickets for the matches they would choose to go to. Not all season ticket holders would choose to go to all matches were they able to pick and choose,

Without a season ticket you have the lottery of the ''hat-trick'' plan (now extend to 7 matches!) or hope there are casual tickets available.

With a season ticket, you might as well go to all the matches as you have paid for them.

The club''s season ticket policy is value for money (provided we don''t get 23 matches of the Hull calibre) but does mean you could have 8000+ fans at some matches who would probably not be there otherwise.

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[quote user="gazban"]I am not saying the policy is wrong and it has meant a full Carrow rd week in/ week out. What I am saying is that it has a big effect on the atmosphere when the team is poor. I was a season ticket holder for the previous 5 years and for spells previous ( I''m in the forces), but just couldn''t warrant spending saturday afternoon away from the family, bored and frustrated, while I work away all week. I just sit by the radio instead! [/quote]

Good summary gazban....and I think I am approaching this position myself after such a dismal showing at CR in recent times. How much enthusiasm can we regularly find when watching such rubbish week in week out?

Another point about noise levels amongst season ticket holders is that many of the lads who would once sing throughout a game can no longer afford to go. I see many family groups at games now....along with mature couples or individuals.  These are not the vocal fans of the old ''stand up days''.....and applause is usually limited to clapping....with the odd ''crap'' comment thrown in here and there. We don''t have a huge noisy following at CR....nor do we have the fanatical fans like Celtic, Man U or Liverpool to sing and chant endlessly. On the whole we get a few rounds of "On the Ball City".....a song inherited from our Grandads....along with the usual "Peter Grant''s Green and Yellow Army"......Hardly inventive or inspiring when compared to the Pompey Chimes etc. 

We are a family club with a lady Chairman whether we like it or not....and I''m afraid you won''t get a ''boiling cauldron'' out of that recipe. It''s a nice, safe place to come and watch a game of football.....but because of that it will naturally be reserved in tone.

 

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What you say FTF, is only right if it can be forecast which games are going to be worth going to see. Hull at home was worse than it''s billing and 8,000+ fans would have made the right decision if they could have stayed away as you suggested. However had those 8,000+ fans stayed away from Barnsley at home they would have been dissappointed. I would have thought that most season ticket holders want to go to every game in the hopes it''s a Barnsley and not a Hull, or in the premiership season a Middlesboro and not a Blackburn. Picking and choosing games can be a minefield!

 

 

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[quote user="cluckaduck"]

[quote user="gazban"]I am not saying the policy is wrong and it has meant a full Carrow rd week in/ week out. What I am saying is that it has a big effect on the atmosphere when the team is poor. I was a season ticket holder for the previous 5 years and for spells previous ( I''m in the forces), but just couldn''t warrant spending saturday afternoon away from the family, bored and frustrated, while I work away all week. I just sit by the radio instead! [/quote]

Good summary gazban....and I think I am approaching this position myself after such a dismal showing at CR in recent times. How much enthusiasm can we regularly find when watching such rubbish week in week out?

Another point about noise levels amongst season ticket holders is that many of the lads who would once sing throughout a game can no longer afford to go. I see many family groups at games now....along with mature couples or individuals.  These are not the vocal fans of the old ''stand up days''.....and applause is usually limited to clapping....with the odd ''crap'' comment thrown in here and there. We don''t have a huge noisy following at CR....nor do we have the fanatical fans like Celtic, Man U or Liverpool to sing and chant endlessly. On the whole we get a few rounds of "On the Ball City".....a song inherited from our Grandads....along with the usual "Peter Grant''s Green and Yellow Army"......Hardly inventive or inspiring when compared to the Pompey Chimes etc. 

We are a family club with a lady Chairman whether we like it or not....and I''m afraid you won''t get a ''boiling cauldron'' out of that recipe. It''s a nice, safe place to come and watch a game of football.....but because of that it will naturally be reserved in tone.

 

[/quote]

I took my nipper up to Old Trafford the other week Cluck (he is a Pompey season ticket holder) and believe me, Man Utd do not have fanatical fans who sing and chant endlessly - they were hopelessly outsung by the 2000 Pompey fans there (and Westwoods bugle of course).

On roughly the same point isn''t it a fact that the more fanatical and "better singing" fans are, for the most part, the ones who follow the club away from home. It is generally a much better laugh isn''t it. I thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the Pompey fans at Old Trafford (and I''m 46), a couple of rounds of "Is this what you call a ground", "Shall we sing a song for you" (followed by the obligatory sshhhhh) etc etc and all the old camaraderie of the away fan "tribe" comes back to you. For those who don''t go away, give it a try - it can turn into a really good day out.

Mark .Y.

 

  

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One of the problems with the large number of season ticket holders is if you come back to Norwich and want to see a game you have to buy a ticket from someone else (who end up not wanting the hatrick ticket, and are not in the barclay). Then you end up watching the match on your own, which in turn means unless you have the confidence to stand up (or not..) on your own and start singing, you end up following everyone else with the odd cheer and clap.

If you manage to get a group of you together - an increasingly difficult thing to do - then an afternoon out of pints, singing and chanting comes naturally.

Are season ticket holders all placed together? Are the "casual" fans spread out?

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What a great comment Mark.

I agree that the Pompey fans are brilliant.....probably the best I''ve heard anywhere. They sing win or lose and have a collection to match anyone. Why is it they are so special though I wonder.....Their ground is awful and they had been in the doldrums for years prior to Redknapp coming along....I also agree regarding the City away supporters.....who really are the backbone of the club in my view. They give it everything they have and when I get the chance to travel to a match I feel very proud to hear them singing.....even joining in myself when no-one is looking .....(I sing like a hedgehog).........[:)]

I also agree totally ''one flew over''.

Gone are the days when a bunch of mates could decide to go to watch City play on the spur of the moment. Years back myself and 2 mates would always go to the games....but sometimes 3 or 4 others would join up in the pub and we''d all go along and sing our heads off. Now with the seating and season ticket buy backs, you get split up and sent all over the place.....IF you can get in. It completely subdues you and at best you are likely to clap a bit and let out the occasional groan. The vibe isn''t there anymore.....

Accuse me of harking back to the ''good old days'' by all means......but that''s what they were.....really good. Another freedom gone and another tradition muted. I''m just glad I was around then to experience it.........[Y]

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couldnt agree more, the atmosphere at Carra Rud is awful lately, ands its for all the reasons listed above....away days are the way to go, i travel to about 10-15 a year and its brilliant. with firm favs being Southend, Cardiff, Rotherham, Sheff UTD. all grounds that box us into a tiny area, which means people stand and sing there hearts out. although i will never forget Barnsley away that year we relegated them, took more fans than they did nearly and got a pitch invasion and applause in our honour by their fans, what a day out that was. lets hope we can do it again at Sheff Weds this season, no better place really. [:)]

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[quote user="cluckaduck"]

 

What a great comment Mark.

I agree that the Pompey fans are brilliant.....probably the best I''ve heard anywhere. They sing win or lose and have a collection to match anyone. Why is it they are so special though I wonder.....Their ground is awful and they had been in the doldrums for years prior to Redknapp coming along....I also agree regarding the City away supporters.....who really are the backbone of the club in my view. They give it everything they have and when I get the chance to travel to a match I feel very proud to hear them singing.....even joining in myself when no-one is looking .....(I sing like a hedgehog).........[:)]

I also agree totally ''one flew over''.

Gone are the days when a bunch of mates could decide to go to watch City play on the spur of the moment. Years back myself and 2 mates would always go to the games....but sometimes 3 or 4 others would join up in the pub and we''d all go along and sing our heads off. Now with the seating and season ticket buy backs, you get split up and sent all over the place.....IF you can get in. It completely subdues you and at best you are likely to clap a bit and let out the occasional groan. The vibe isn''t there anymore.....

Accuse me of harking back to the ''good old days'' by all means......but that''s what they were.....really good. Another freedom gone and another tradition muted. I''m just glad I was around then to experience it.........[Y]

[/quote]

It may have been a bad match but I was at the QPR game which was thoroughly enjoyable. At times we were matching their support.

Another away day I thoroughly enjoyed was several seasons ago going to see Plymouth with my sisters ex play Barnet - there must have been nearly 2000 Plymouth away fans in what was then a div 3 fixture. Their stadium was more or less a garden shed and the away stand seemingly dangerously fragile with all those boisterous and vocal fans in it. It was also terraced which makes a difference.

Saying that I have a happy memory of a home game against Crystal Palace which we eventually lost. I was sitting in the snake pit and the chanting against the away support was non stop. The only time we were silenced was by their goals. Seccons later we would start up again and I can tell you what, it may have been a defeat on the pitch but it felt like a victory for the fans. I couldn''t speak for a day after that and take that mentality to all of the games I go to now.

I feel sorry for the chap who had to come all of the way from Maidenhead to sit next to me at the QPR game and the kids to the left of me being 16/17ish thought they were rebels. I had a steward laughing by the end of it too. Nothing like a sing song and hurling abuse at the referee who was woeful that game - Rehman should have been off amoungst other things such as a deliberate handball in the area in the last 5-10mins. But hey what can you do? Thats right tell the idiot he made the wrong decision!

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I am envious of the old days Cluck, but I don''t really have a solution. All businesses get people to sign up on long term deals, and can plan eveything better based on these figures.

I got a cinema card this year - all you can watch for a year for a set amount each month. The first few months I was watching 7-8 films a month. Now I watch maybe 1 or 2 - and I normally slate them! The whole excitement of the cinema has gone. Unless the product is very good I feel I have wasted my time. At the beginning I was enjoying the experience of trailers, popcorn, a dark room, atmosphere, people''s reactions. Now it is all about the quality of the film...

As I only see 3-4 matches a year the excitement of going to Carrow Road is always there - when you come up the steps and see the pitch and the crowd, it really hits me. I don''t know how season ticket holders feel but I''d imagine the magic wears off if you go every week. I am sure there are many season ticket holders to which NCFC matches are the be all and end all, but I know many who migrated to Norwich that support other teams but want their kids to support / watch a football team so get a season ticket.

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[quote user="cluckaduck"]

I know that quite a few ''season tickets'' are held by companies for use by their staff and visitors. I personally know of about 25 seats which are used by people not remotely interested in Norwich City....but come to games ''for a laugh''. Several are armchair Man U supporters.....the others don''t even like football particularly. It''s become the ''thing to do'' in certain quarters because it''s free and part of their ''perks''.......not much hope of an atmosphere being created if this is rife around the ground.

[/quote]

this gets on my bleedin nerves cluck, ur right with what u say!

 what gripes me the most is that if ur standing there singing/chanting etc they look at u like some kind of lunatic! before shaking their head and saying somethind stupid to their mate!

 It also p***es me off that they sit there mocking the team despite the fact they sit there in the seats! bet they dont even know the way to old Trafford...

dont get me started on people like this.. i once go tin an argument with one at Carrow road, including his "corporate" colleagues. but thats a story for another time.

jas :)

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