Well done Mr Lansdown

It’s that time of the year again, the day Bristol City fans start counting the pennies as season ticket prices for next season have been released. This news today came as quite a shock to me because usually at City you can expect to wait until at least the end of March, normally the beginning of April before there is even any talk about prices being released. Seeing the news this morning you could forgive me for being slightly nervous before reading through the story as season ticket prices last year, after promotion to the Championship, increased by about 20 per cent for adult tickets. With the team riding high in the Championship in second place I assumed the Steve Lansdown would have increased the prices even more. To his credit, the club has frozen all ticket prices for the forthcoming season. But are we as supporters still getting value for money?

When the prices were released last year, there was a backlash from many fans who felt the price rises were too steep, and many fans simply couldn’t afford it. Personally, the ticket price for my seat at £225 was in my opinion value for money, although that is the benefit of being a student. With 23 homes games in a season this worked out as under £10 per game watching Championship football. Even the more expensive adult tickets, priced at £425, worked out as under £20 per game, which is good value. The pay on the day prices though, for fans cannot who cannot afford a season ticket or are simply unable to watch every match, were too expensive. Adult prices in the Dolman and Williams stands were priced at £26, which is more expensive than some Premiership teams. Steve Lansdown at the time said the increased prices were justified if City fans wanted the club to be competitive in the Championship and, fortunately for him, he has been proven right so far.

By placing season tickets on sale from 1 March, Mr Lansdown has strategically aimed to get City fans to commit their money in the hope that City can achieve promotion. Well, personally, it has worked for me as I will be buying my ticket for next season before the prices increase on 12 April in the hope that we will be playing top flight football next season, but will the rest of you?

Although supporters could lose out if we did achieve the unthinkable, the prices would certainly be value for money. In the past, the club has put season tickets on sale when we were in League 1 pushing for promotion and uncertain of what league we will be playing in. Unfortunately, the gamble for those fans including me who did part with their money was lost. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

Premiership football would bring sell-out crowds and having a season ticket would probably be a necessity in securing a seat. It would not surprise if we sold out the entire home allocation to season ticket holders if we gained promotion. The current capacity allocates just over 19,000 fans, taking the away allocation in to account, only 16,000 seats would be available. This season alone we have sold over 10,000 season tickets, and it’s not unthinkable that we could sell out.

The club is also introducing a new card system which signals the end of the season ticket book stuffed full of vouchers. The new card will be similar to those used by the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. Personally, I think this is a great idea, as it can become tedious searching in the book for the correct voucher to present a turnstile operator. But does this signal the end for the old fashioned turnstile in football? Will all tickets including pay on the day just involve a card being swiped?

Back to the prices: I am sure most City fans will take up the offer and gamble on the clubs fortunes, but even if we do ultimately fail, next season we will certainly come back even stronger and mount another promotion push. However, I am now convinced we can achieve promotion and why not? We have been one of the most consistent teams in the
Championship; we have won the most games along with Watford and Stoke City, and we have also lost the least amount of games. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season?

ANDY DAVIES