I have to agree here - I paid £220 for my season ticket but I already know of 2 home games I will miss. So I now get 12 (or maybe 13) games for my £220. If a couple of those games are discounted to get fans in (as has happened in the past), or if I end up missing another one then I'll be no better off than if I'd paid on the day.
I'm happy to pay in advance and take the risk but there's a lot of people out there who aren't. For the club, getting the guaranteed income in advance has a big advantage but there's a real balancing act to be done to maximise that advantage.


For me the way to go on Students and 60-65 concessions would have been:
Students - They are the future and we need to keep them coming so a student discount should still have been available (£150 maybe - based on £10 per game), but NUS card produced at time of purchase and shown on the gate.
60-65's - This may have been a tricky one to manage (given the state of our customer database) but anyone who had a discounted season ticket last year and fell in the 60-65 bracket should continue to get a discount (advertise it as a loyalty bonus so there is no accusations of discrimination), all those who were 59 last year and therefore paying full price, continue to do so until they are 65 (not ideal but could have worked)

Good post. When i picked my ST up not long before the deadline in November i was told sales were 'around 1500', so i'd guess by now given the end of the deadline and xxmas 2K would be about the figure. Can't see too many buying now at £250, it just isn't worth the pay out up front for the saving gained. The jump in prices this year was a big one when you remember that the previous years early bird offer was £150 before rising, a near 50% jump to £220 will have put some existing holders off straight away, it so very nearly did me. When you throw in the concession removals and what is a pretty sp 'benefits' package that comes with it then it's no surprise that numbers are down. I said at the time the prices were released i expected income from sales to be much the same but numbers to be down. MC replied he thought that wouldn't be the case and would be very disappointed if so. I guess he now knows just how tough a job it is to get people through the gates. Personally i'd have gone for a £199 ticket for existing holders when renewed within 6 weeks and kept the concessions in place, make it look like they gave a damn about loyalty, it is a two way street. They could have then risen the price to £225, then £250. My guess is there will be a slight average decrease in attendance again this year. If the team is successful then it may well pay off in walk up fans and rise (although ticket offers may be needed for that, lessening the ST value again) but if we struggle then the budget is going to be tested. I've said it before but for reason both on and off the field getting off to a poor start is not an option. We need to hit the ground running.

Isn't there anybody else out there who just buys a season ticket because it helps the club? Any benefits are just a bonus.
For yonks I used to just pay match by match as I thought the extra income benefited the club. It was only when Eric France offered that extra payment if we bought tickets before the £million game with Cas (when we didn't know what division we would be in) that I switched to season ticket.

I don't think the majority of people think exactly like that tbh.

My view is that the "extras" I pay for are my way of helping the club - such as paying into the lottery (I don't know anyone who has been on the winners list yet), buying the shirt, purchasing food and drink in the ground rather than outside, buying away tickets through the club where I can etc etc.

However with the wider fan base, the goodwill element will only get the club so far.

Don't forget the free games for Academy

Are you sure the academy games are included this time , but then again the academy players are still the same as last season (on the clubs web site ) so do we have one next season

I wonder if a number of have 'defected 'to Cas' in search of glory.
There was always, in days gone by, the 'floaters' who would follow the more successful of the three clubs .
My Granddad was one in the 50's and 60's,changing in particular between Fev' and Trinity.

You will always get glory supporters, who may change their allegiance from time to time but, with our long standing trophy drought, most people "enjoy" supporting the "underdog" and ALL of us just keep hoping that the glory years of the 60's may one day return.

Back in the days of Bullmania, there used to be loads of people that lived in Wakefield but were Bulls "fans", some of these may have returned when things looked to be on the up (under Glover & Elston) but, they have since stopped coming.

It would be superb if we could have some on field success and maybe then, the sleeping giant may be woken and we might start to get some decent crowds again

Yes I do and would rather they be priced to allow us to be sustainable. That said I do agree that the student price increase could and probably should have been staggered over the next few years as this is the potential lifeblood of the club going forward.

I also see the issue with the change in the age of concessions given the demographic of our supporter base and again agree that a staggered increase at this end may have been the best way to go.

It is harder to get new fans than keep the current ones, so imo the club should do their best to cater for these sections of the supporter base.

I guess I will be one of those not getting value from my season ticket,when I got it I was only working one Sunday a month but since they changed my schedule I'm now working every other Sunday,I bet you its the Sunday we play

i havn't purchased my tickets yet because i need to see the yjl fixture first, the half hour earlier kick off and possibly 12:00 kick offs over huddersfield and hull way means we wouldn't be back in time. also why do 14-16 year olds who are both still at high school pay £70 and unders pay £50 ? it's not as though they can get a part time job so it means parents spending more.

Well I now can't go on Sunday as they have me working :/

How many games does a season ticket get you in for this year

Minimum of 14 (possibly 15 depending on where we finish)

11 before the split, then either 3 or 4 after.