The “early bird” deadline, a supporter not fortunate enough to go to Sunderland or Birmingham away may not have seen a home win for SIX MONTHS A bad move is this renewal announcement
No it isn’t. Not in my view. Delaying it would have brought accusations of acceptance that we are doomed, complaints of no early bird discount, moans that they are waiting on setting the prices to see how much we can be fleeced. They’ve come out at the same time as last year and priced it pretty identically, adding a very small charge for under 12s for reasons that have been discussed before and extending the young adult age range. Not all supporters base their continuing support of the club solely on success and being in a particular division. I’ve supported this club in league one before, I’ll probably have to do it again. It’s likely that will be from August. Maybe not. Either way, getting change from £300 for two season tickets in the family enclosure for me and my son seems more than reasonable. If I compared to picking game by game I’d likely break even cost wise if I came to nine or ten matches, maybe less. Even with missing the Tuesday games that I inevitably will, I’ll still be doing ok. I’ll renew this time next year too, even if it looks like we’ll be in league two. I support the club, they gave me the most fantastic twelve months not so long ago, it’s been much worse than this in the past too. I’m not walking away or keeping my options open. I’m in. Many will wait before deciding or perhaps not renew - their choice, no problem with that at all. Many won’t though. I won’t be alone in having renewed today. Plenty more will by the end of the month too. Each to their own
I notice you said you have supported us in 'league 1' before. So i would guess you arent particularly that old. Have you been buying your own tickets to watch football mostly during the premier/sky/bt years (significant increase in wages/transfers/ticket prices?. If this is all you know then that's your norm. Those of us who followed the reds back in the day (me from 76) do not recognise modern day football: it was cheap, players didn't get paid ridiculous wages and the majority of clubs gained their income through the paying spectator. I guess it was a heck of a lot easier to follow the reds in 76 in the 4th division, despite these being dark days. It was an affordable day out for all the family. There were only 3 tv channels, no mobile phones, no pc's, no tablets, no x box etc: it might have been crap viewing but it was still an event and something to look forward to 'cos there were few alternatives back then ( unlike the masses today). Fundamentally it was much easier to put up with mediocrity back then, in my opinion of course. Of course we wanted more and indeed we got it with the messiah alan clarke and super ronnie glavin. But the prices didn't shoot up with the following years success: the prices shot up after 4 or 5 years of tv money being piled into the premier league. Football can't count on blind loyalty anymore.
It shows how bad things have been this season when having the dubious pleasure of being at the Sunderland and Birmingham games means that one is considered a fortunate supporter.
I sadly missed Sunderland and Birmingham due to work. Only home wins this season I've seen have been Forest & the two Carabao cup games. As entertainment goes it has been tripe.
