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Lapsed Season Ticket Holders

Are you one of those who have not renewed or purchased a season ticket for 2015/2016. What would change your mind and part with your cash?

We are only in the middle of June and a lot could happen between now and the first game against the hoops from Shepherd's Bush. At present you would need to be more with your heart than your head to purchase one with all the ongoing rumours of outgoings on our better players and it being very quiet on the incomings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not hear a figure on season tickets sold last season? Nothing has been announced so far on how many sold so far, but looking at average attendances since our premier league days, they are down. Shiny seats and pulled pork can only last so long.

If the likes of Gomez, Cousins and Gudmundsson were to leave and adequate replacements were not brought in, then it would be difficult to get people through the new computerised turnstiles.




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Comments

  • shirty5 said:

    Are you one of those who have not renewed or purchased a season ticket for 2015/2016. What would change your mind and part with your cash?

    We are only in the middle of June and a lot could happen between now and the first game against the hoops from Shepherd's Bush. At present you would need to be more with your heart than your head to purchase one with all the ongoing rumours of outgoings on our better players and it being very quiet on the incomings.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not hear a figure on season tickets sold last season? Nothing has been announced so far on how many sold so far, but looking at average attendances since our premier league days, they are down. Shiny seats and pulled pork can only last so long.

    If the likes of Gomez, Cousins and Gudmundsson were to leave and adequate replacements were not brought in, then it would be difficult to get people through the new computerised turnstiles.




    Unless we get promoted or look like getting promoted around March them figures aint gonna change regardless of who we sign or who we don't.

    The Prem days were great, full houses etc but 40% only there for cheap Prem Football sadly.

  • edited June 2015
    Not renewing for a number of reasons. Agree with MrLargo Re interest/engagement. My enthusiasm has completely gone.
  • Not renewed, was a 5 year VIP until this season, just finding it harder and harderto get to games. Bloody work!
  • MrLargo said:

    Not renewed yet, had a season ticket since 94/95, and interest/engagement is at an all-time low. Pretty sure I will renew eventually, but wasn't going to be bullied by the unreasonable early-bird deadline this year and generally not inclined to handover any money until and unless I see something positive on the transfer front, both in terms of not selling the crown jewels and in terms of bringing in some Championship-level players (i.e. not more poorly-scouted network numpties).

    Nothing to do with the standard of football - I'd watch us in the Dog & Duck Sunday League if it came to it. I don't like or trust our current owner or his stooge, they continually do things that suggest that either they haven't got a clue what they're doing, or that they've got some sort of evil masterplan that none of us have been clever enough to figure out yet. I've not had anything from the club yet in terms of persuading me to renew, and it seems odd to me that any business would let a customer of 20+ years just walk away.

    Very worried about the future. We're not going to go bust under Duchatelet, but we will continue to shed existing supporters and lose potential new ones. I think we had around 6,500 season-ticket holders in 97/98 when we first got promoted to the Premier League, and grew that figure to a peak of around 21,000. Inevitably that gradually fell on the way to and during our spell in League 1, but it seemed that, if nothing else, we had increased our "thick and thin" support from that initial 6,500 to a base of around 10-11,000. I think Duchatelet will ensure that we end up back where we started.

    Excellent post. I'm surprised that no one has been in contact yet, to ask why have you not renewed, but with the rumours of outgoings, they know they are fighting a losing battle at the moment trying to justify why you should renew.


  • I stopped having a season ticket the previous year. Always manage to get a spare ticket knocking around for 75% of the games.

    Would not see the point buying one unless we went up. Even then I would probably go halfs with someone for a ticket.
  • Gomez to Liverpool tomorrow won't help (unless they have negotiated a loan-back). Moan, moan, moan.
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  • have let all ours lapse now, will always support my club but agree with Largo.

    Its not the same club it was when I first bought a season ticket in the 90s, its been a gradual, and personal thing. Perhaps when my boy is a bit older we'll get tickets again. for now its gonna be an occasional thing
  • Would @Airman Brown have a table of season ticket figures over the years, it'd be interesting to compare next seasons total against our previous worst in the last say 20 years?

    My Season Ticket has lapsed twice since '98 and no inkling to renew at present, paid as i went to maybe 5 games last season despite living closer to the ground than I ever have before........
  • I was daft enough to be a 5 year VIP season ticket holder and also has the previous 10 yr and then 5 yr tickets. I understood before when they stopped it as we were in the premiership at the time and selling season tickets did not need extra discount. But now I do feel a certain resentment for just giving up on the scheme. Not sure what others felt but with the sale of Gomez and rumours re Cousins, fixture day felt a bit flat, certainly compared to other club fans at work.
  • I was daft enough to be a 5 year VIP season ticket holder and also has the previous 10 yr and then 5 yr tickets. I understood before when they stopped it as we were in the premiership at the time and selling season tickets did not need extra discount. But now I do feel a certain resentment for just giving up on the scheme. Not sure what others felt but with the sale of Gomez and rumours re Cousins, fixture day felt a bit flat, certainly compared to other club fans at work.

    The announcement of the fixtures felt extremely flat this time around, whereas normally it's a real highlight in the calendar in terms of planning potential away trips etc.

    Losing Gomez after only 20 odd games is a real blow when we were all looking forward to watching his progress next season. More generally, I'm worried about the message the transfer potentially sends out about a general lack of ambition on the part of CAFC and RD. Maybe there was a release clause in Joe's contract and there was nothing the club could do - if so, it would be helpful to have some communication around that. As for Cousins, he really is the heartbeat of the side and I think his departure would be a tipping point for many supporters who are, at present, prepared to give RD the benefit of the doubt and adopt a 'wait and see' approach. I expect that he knows that, not that he was too worried about selling off most of Standard Liege's players last summer. I'm pretty hopeful that Jordan will re-sign.

    Hopefully there will be some interesting arrivals over the summer.
  • I've had a season ticket since the first Premier League season, most recently as a five-year holder, but haven't renewed and at the moment am unlikely to.

    I live very close to The Valley and at times last season in particular I think I was going because I'd paid for it (a long time ago) and so felt obliged. If I had to travel the distances some on here do then I would have made a much smaller number of games for sure.

    Can't put my finger on one reason why, but at times it does feel those in charge take some supporters and their cash for granted.

    Also, there is the knowledge that it won't exactly be difficult to get tickets when picking and choosing games next season.
  • edited June 2015
    WIth the discounted games and the odd one or two I can't make, the reason I buy my season ticket is more for supporting the club than a financial one. When the Valley was sold out often it was about making sure you had a seat! I think there is a lot more the club can do to increase numbers and I do think harder about getting one each year. I'm not sure I like the attitude this owner has to fans. Ok, it is his right to have it, but it is our right to decide how we support our club. I think messages that our aim is to be mid table doesn't fill fans with great excitement, no matter how realistic or not that is.

    If the football is exciting and we are doing ok it isn't a chore to come. But if we struggle, it can be and not having a ticket means you can buy tickets in the expectation of being entertained rather than part of a captive audience! A successful, exciting season will always increase season tickets.
  • The RD model with short term player and manager contracts and the early cashing in of youth players is probably good business but I'm finding it hard to stay enthused about the club. As things stand I'm most likely to convert to a pay as you go approach. Would miss seeing my brother regularly though.
  • I renewed but this is make it break season for me. I didn't much care for the early bird "buy your seat now or risk losing it" tactic and I will need to see a squad by August that I am prepared to get out of bed for. If I get the impression this season that we are just going through the motions then it'll be pay as you go for us next year. Trouble is, having the ST makes me go.
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  • We have renewed, to a large extent because I love the whole experience of attending a game. Although I have supported Charlton for 60 years, I can also appreciate things I see from the other team. Added to that, the friendships that we have around us in the upper North bring interest and pleasure. It would be a strange world if we were all the same, but I retain the thought that £120 million a season must surely be making Roland's mouth water. However if we are not at least challenging for the top six this season, at what will be 78, it might be pipe and slippers time.
  • edited June 2015
    Every year i think about not renewing and every year i do and before the early cut off. Not sure what to expect this season but Charlton Athletic Football Club has been such a big part of my life since the early 1970's it's a hard habit to kick, i sometimes wish i could. I have been living in Cambridgeshire since 1987 but have travelled down almost religously. Stupid maybe, blind faith maybe but whatever it is it's a habit a can't kick
  • We have reluctantly renewed but it gets more unlikely each year.

    I don't personally expect RD to spend a fortune on players on my behalf and provided we have a decent team with a reasonable chance of at least staying up, I'll go along and watch.

    BUT as a season ticket holder I would hope for a little respect and to be treated like most businesses would such regular customers. The early bird offer with the threat of losing your seat was an insult to me. Like being asked to pay in advance for a meal in a restaurant just to reserve the table you have used every week for twenty five years?

    I would guess that neither RD or Katrien have ever dealt with the public in their other businesses. So they treat us like suppliers or outlets rather than customers. But they seem like nice people. Maybe they can learn!
  • If I didn't renew I wouldn't stop coming. But I would miss the odd game if we were not doing so well possibly. The one of a cold wet day that you know we will lose and you have to drag yourself to.
  • Interesting thread. It has to be balanced by the fact that people's lives change, financial / family / friends circumstances change, locations change, and general interest in football change.

    However, there is no doubting there has been a big jump in people being less interested / enthused over the last few seasons.

    Personally i think its pretty simple. Like it or not, i just don't think the Club currently has much going for it in terms of USP, character etc.

    The Valley return years brought a purpose and a togetherness. Post-Valley return brught a sense of togetherness and achievement. The improvement as a football club in terms of on pitch performance, off field development of The Valley, and generally increasing in support gave the Club momentum. At the heart of it again was a togetherness.

    Now that just doesn't seem there, not just under this regime, it was struggling before that. But it feels more magnified now as everything around the Club has gone more international or corporate.

    We won't be the only Club or fans suffering from this, but for me our identity seems to be eroding worryingly fast.

    This Club needs a good season. Desperately

    Post of the summer so far. Sums it up perfectly for me. We travel hopefully but I don't think we have another winter in us like last season. I know I haven't.
  • When dad couldn't make it I took a friend or girlfriend. Now he's gone, I can't bring myself to buy one sole ticket, and can't really afford to buy two as my friends don't want to come badly enough to pay. So I want to go, but I'm in a quandary. I guess I'll buy on a game by game basis, but I will miss my old seat.
  • Let’s face it, our owner is a dispassionate man who has shown no obvious signs of ambition, other than to break even and survive. The trouble is football is about passion, its about hope, its about pride and honour … and hopefully - a bit of glory.

    RD is financially prudent in running the football factory, but it doesn’t cut it with the casual supporters - and less still in attracting new customers. I wish he could make a positive statement of intent - a bit of inspired leadership could go a long way in regenerating a buzz around the Valley.

    I agree with what your saying but what is the point of owning a football and never looking to make a serious profit?

    I just don't believe he is on an endless cycle of breaking even and surviving as it is utterless pointless and waste of time and energy that could be used on his actual profit earning businesses.

    Maybe the regime goal is just going to take years as in 4-5 instead of 2-3. Some will stay on and some will relax their support somewhat but I just do not believe a successfull businessman does not have a projection of upward performance.
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Roland Out Forever!