2016/17 Season Ticket Price Freeze

Just to make my position clear - and I think its the same as Mr Duxbury's.

Kids in grounds, perfectly fine. Have them on your lap for free too, IMO.

I started going to games very young too. The Harrow cub group I was in was let in free to Wealdstone matches at half time. I thought that was amazing, even in the late 60's.

Buying a seat for a kid to be used at some point in the future and seldom using it - as so many are doing?

Taking the **** and stealing the opportunity for a genuine adult fan to experience a match at Vicarage Road. Someone like Ron Taylor or PYA or any of the Devon contingent who have moved away/abroad. Someone like me, who when they'd stopped actually playing the game, wanted to return to The Vic every match to see Watford. Or even somebody who wants to support their local team but has no previous history. We all had to start somewhere.

They're all being denied by this folk wealthy enough to buy a seat they're not using.

It's football, not a masonic birthright.

If Messrs Duxbury and Pozzo are to be encouraged to expand the stadium they need to see it full for the majority of matches, not just the top 6 opposition. They know its being denied by the existing STHs with extra seats taking the ****.

 

It isn't just kids seats being bought and not used, there are a noticeable amount of seats around me in the UGT that are obviously used on a corporate basis and unsurprisingly are only used for the bigger games whereas games such as Burnley at home there are two season tickets sat in a secretary's desk.

I think the idea of scrapping season tickets is pretty revolutionary but it works in theory. Whilst I am falling out of love with football I have no immediate plans to give up my season ticket, however if we went down the route of a membership whereby I have first dibs on my seat and for the same price as a season ticket seat then it is win win. If I can't go then somebody else gets my seat, if I can go then I get my regular seat.

It is sad to see the EJ stand so sparsely populated after years of being sat opposite a condemned shed.

The other point to remember is that just because it is the Premier League it doesn't mean every game could or should be a sell out. It is an incredibly overhyped league and aside from the top six the standard of football isn't as it is made out to be. There are plenty of PL fixtures that won't attract punters on a whim - any game involving Burnley, Watford, Sunderland, Boro, Hull, Palace, Bournemouth, WBA, Stoke, Saints and others just doesn't whet the appetite the way the leaders of the game wish. And that is half of the Premier League.

 

It's an expensive hobby being a Non-ST fan these days, near on 40 quid for a shyte seat is far too pricey IMO.

 

I take my 2 kids now for a combined £120 a season. That's good value for top flight footy. They both love it and its something we can do together. If we were to do something else most Saturdays it will cost a lot more than that. Plus its something we will always have together even when they are older (hopefully), like my Dad still goes and its something we have in common. When my youngest doesn't go we take one of my sons friends so the ticket it always used. I would go every home game as I do now whatever but to try and grow the fan base we need the younger kids to come. How many off us on here started going during the Taylor years and have been hocked ever since? The key is making it affordable. With the advent of stupid TV money the club could almost let us in for a nominal fee and the club wouldn't see a huge dent in finances (while in the prem obviously). The point I am trying to make is membership schemes etc aren't the answer cheaper tickets are.

 

I think they should offer something similar to the 75 miler ST, where the holder has a reduced number of matches (I think it's something like 12/19 games?) but selects which ones they intend to attend. Particularly in the family stand. This would mean people can 'reserve' their seat for their occasionally attending kids, but also reduce the amount of wasted seats.

 

And appealing. It could be free to get in but if the day is spent being ordered around by over zealous stewards, feeding yourself with overpriced and shockingly bad food and then watching the utter garbage currently being played then people won't come back. It isn't all about cost.

 

So are you saying you wouldn't watch us if we were in League 2 haha?

 

Ha! Very good. I would, but Lg 1 is as low as we've been since I've/we've been going.

 

I do wish they'd bring those back. I moved to Devon after they became only available to people who already had one. It costs a fortune travelling back for each match so I'm more likely to not renew for next season after two seasons doing that. I guess they find it easier selling tickets now we are in the top division to need to do so though.

 

I'd love it if they did unreserved seating, (LOVE IT). Me and the lad would be back in the Rookery post haste.

 

I'm a category A for home games, was a season ticket holder for years until 2012 when I went to University, came back and suddenly we're a Premier League club. I try and go as much as possible, got in with work a fair bit last season but as I was at uni and so was my brother, getting him, myself and my Dad to games all together was sparse.
I'm a category A while both my Dad and brother are category B, meaning that if I ever want to go, I have to wait until category B goes on sale, all that's available in the Rookery is awful front row seats or singles dotted about. The SEJ is always sold out but it's VERY empty on actual matchday. It's starting to put me off trying to go when we can't get good seats.

I can't afford a season ticket until I find full time work, but even so, going on a casual basis is rather difficult these days. Why on earth does the system allow single seats to be left, that should not be possible.

STH's not turning up on a regular basis needs to be put to a stop though, I don't care if you kid doesn't always want to come, if it's empty 60%+ of the time, that's a seat somebody else could have

 

Perhaps the kids are so fed up of the standard of football that they would rather stay at home and watch Peppa Pig?

On another note, is there not spaced left in the Vicarage Road end for safety reason sue to small concourses?

 

You ask why it's selfish, but have admitted that the seat rarely gets used, meaning other supporters can't attend, and costs £100 a season, significantly less than the seat would command on a match by match basis.

Whether you're looking at it from the perspective of other fans or the club, and I'm very much looking at it from a fan's perspective, that's selfish.

On a more general note, despite going regularly for the past 10+ years, I don't really bother any more. The only games I've been to this season are Burton and Middlesbrough. I've got better things to do with my time than clock watch, waiting for tickets to be released, only to find there's feck all available anyway and the overall match day experience is, quite frankly, mediocre at best.

Maybe it's general disillusionment with life as a Premier League club, but regardless, I never thought that I'd turn down attending a game as I am now.

 

Prices out soon, renewals open on 1st April.

https://www.watfordfc.com/matches/tickets/season-tickets-20172018

Waiting List in operation this summer for the first time too.

 

The club should consider running a scheme where the season ticket seat has to be filled 90% of the time or the ST won't be renewed. Coupled with this, they should beef up the ability for ST holders to free up their seat quickly and easily ahead of time so it can be resold to someone else if they can't make it.

That way ST holds could keep their seats as long as they bother to contact the club and let them know if they won't be making a game. Last minute absences will be covered by the 90% rule. As long as you're attending or freeing up your seat 90% of the time (which should be easy for anyone who bothers if a decent check-in system is used), there's no chance of losing the seat. Those who don't bother don't get to hold the seat in a stadium where demand now outstrips supply.

 

At a previous AYP, the club said they're keen to find a scheme that will work to solve the empty seats problem. They asked for ideas. I'm sure they'd still be keen to hear what people have got.

It's tough, though.

One of the problems with penalising season ticket holders with a 90% rule - for example - would be that so many kick-off times get changed. This season, the club have staged only 64% of our 14 home matches so far at the time that was originally scheduled when the fixture list came out. It's hardly fair on fans to set the attendance bar at 90% in this context.

I don't mean to pick on this particular idea as flawed, but it shows how hard it is to find a solution. There's always some aspect or other of modern football that brings ideas crashing down in flames.

As I say, if you've got a genuinely promising idea, the club would like to hear.

 

Perhaps season tickets should be like pay as you go on Oyster cards. You open your account (allocated seat) you pay a deposit through a direct debit or a one off payment of the annual season ticket value. Each time you fail to attend (gate data) you pay the difference between your 1/19th payment and the full adult single price for that seat. You get a 7 day window prior to the match to avoid the penalty amount for non attendance. This way the onus is on you to say you are not attending with the stick that if you don't attend you pay a non attendance fee. Once the club has at least 7 days it is their responsibility to fill the seat. They can sell it, give it away, etc.

 

What a stupid scenario.

So if my wife is ill and ive got to look after the kids (fortunately theyre old enough to look after themselves now) or I'm working late on a Monday night etc, or I purely cannot bring myself to spend my Saturday watching hoofball up to a fat man, I should be charged an extra x pounds? Would be absolutely ridiculous.

I know the likes of United do something similar but we aren't a tourist club and there are always, ALWAYS, seats on matchdays when we play smaller clubs. If you're just upset you can't watch the big clubs play against Watford (not you personally), I really don't have any sympathy.

 

There is not an easy solution and it could be debated as to what the problem actually is!, as far as I can see there are two areas which maybe are a problem, the first ie empty seats the club could handle better and secondly lack of atmosphere in a certain stand is partly due to empty seats and partly due to the type of supporters which enjoy that stand and view etc.

I don't have any problem with anyone sitting in the S.E.J. stand I use to sit in " dead mans row " which was above the players tunnel in the old stand and moved because my Sons preferred the rookery, I enjoyed the view and being close to the benches and seeing all the invited guests etc but the Rookery does have a better atmosphere especially when we are winning!! ala Man united, Liverpool etc.
For the first time in years I and my Son couldn't go to a recent game (V West Ham) so went through the club and put the tickets up for ticket exchange, oddly enough the club didn't sell the tickets although the web site said " Sold Out " as we are in the centre of the rookery half way up it does make you wonder if they are on the case.

Although using an extreme example if you buy a season ticket and don't go to any of the games you are only " hindering " the club should they have a sell out and had been able to sell your ticket at full price, the lack of atmosphere because your seat is empty, well that's a different story!

 

I guess the on the fence dry weather fans might wait until we are safe, however for those of us that always purchase a season ticket it makes little difference which division we are in!

 

I simply buy a seat because I'm rich and don't attend to screw over real fans.

I find the irony amusing.

 

Someone clearly didn't read the whole post...

 

Touchy. Just when I was being nice.

If you still think the idea is good, put it to the club. That was my point. (I'll credit you with reading my whole post, and won't suggest you didn't.)

You will, however, need to be sufficiently emotionally robust to deal with a polite reply if they don't think the idea is quite right.

Good luck with it. I genuinely hope it solves the problem.

 

What if the club measured attendance of the games per each ST and if you missed, say, four or more, you get bumped down to Category B for the next batch of Season Tickets? Or if they measured it by Saturday 3pm games only? Cor, see how hard it is?

Another idea is that you buy the Season Ticket, but you still have to register yourself for the game (which obviously wouldn't cost anything), so it would be an opt-in thing, rather than an opt-out. A 'phone app could be put together for it, or it could be done by the website. You could confirm your attendance at any point up to 24 hours before the start of the game, after which the seat goes on general sale.

 

Wow this all seems very complex for something that really isn't a huge issue. I can't see the old gits in the Upper GT wanting to have to register on an iPhone app before every game! And the expectation of a certain level of attendance is silly with the amount of kick off changes you get in this league.

At the end of the day a club our size is always going to have empty seats apart from when the big boys are in town. Apart from the hardcore 10,000 or so, people pick and choose their games. Back in the 90's there was a year that I had a season ticket I could only use for evening games as I worked most Saturdays. No-one was moaning about my empty seat then!!

 

No one else wanted your seat then. Surely you get the basic difference?

 

How hard can it be. You come to games, you get a cheaper ST next year, you don't, you pay more.

 

So what about for the games I can't attend and release my seat for the club to sell on, thus giving me a discount for the next year. This means I could theoretically go to 6 games a year and if I then sell 13 games my next season ticket could be 160 less. I've missed a lot this year in all honesty - kids,work etc etc and the club have only managed to sell on my seat once. This is for the middle of the Rookery seating. Not exactly hard to sell surely?

Do I then have to pay more for not going and the club not being able to sell my seat either? Genuine question.

 

Next season I intend to buy a whole block in the SEJ and put a massive banner with my huge grinning face on it for all the world to see.

 

Good point. If your ticket is used in any way then you pay less next year, including releasing it to the club. You've done your bit.

 

Back on the subject of the ticket exchange I see the stadium is now showing red in every area for the Sunderland game, yet there's still no mention of ticket exchange becoming active.

 

Don't you have to 'phone up? If that's the case then it's no wonder people don't bother.

 

The option to 'manage tickets' should appear online and then you can put the ticket up for sale. I did it for the Stoke game and the ticket sold within an hour. Since then even though some games are showing as sold out the option to sell hasn't appeared.

 

I'm not renewing mine for next season after approx 14 years because the football on show over the last two years has been dreadful, and in general the match day experience at home games is poor.

If we get relegated I'd be tempted to get a season ticket though. Not everyone not renewing is a dry weather fan, just saying.