Yes, to be honest

the club has dined out on being a 'community club' in the past, about how we want to do things differently.

If we didn't have huge TV incomes, and were actually heavily reliant on fans dipping into their pockets just to break even, then I wouldn't mind it. I fully expect us to need to do it in the medium future once we've stopped yo-yoing.

We have other income sources we could exploit. There will be plenty of fat in the organisation that we can still cut.

I know how business works and why it's being done - it's easy money from a captive market that doesn't require many hard decisions to be made. But it doesn't mean I think it's the right thing for a football club like ours to be doing.

If I were running it I'd put it out to consultation (or have a 'fan board' to make this sort of decision). Break down the ticket price so everyone can see what proportion is needed to cover core costs, what proportion is infrastructure investment, and what proportion is 'needed' for the playing staff budget/transfer kitty. See what price level most people want to see and (effectively) see how much people want to spend on players / what they see the club being. Actually a fan board would be really good for this sort of existential decision making.

Posted By: CWC, Jan 21, 15:49:18