Anyone else get a letter about this or can anyone shed any further light on it? If we dont take up the offer do we need to relocate? That said, my 10 and 12 year old are quite excited at the thought of "free wine, beer and soft drinks at half time"!
1
Comments
Came home to letter today. "From August we would like you to be part of our brand new crossbars season ticket". Benefits listed include exclusive access to lounge before, during and after games, early bird discounted drinks. Free half time drinks ..." cant help but think price is gonna hike up or we'll be 'encouraged' to move
From August there will be a new Crossbars season ticket and you will be able to use the lounge before, during and after the game.
There are a number of other things with Bob Bolder as the Host.
I don't think people will have to relocate if they don't join and there is no price mentioned.
The way it is written does suggest relocation if you are not prepared / cannot afford to spend more money on a Crossbars package.
The thin end of the wedge potentially when one has had a season ticket in the same place for many seasons and I hope the Supporters' Trust and / or Fans' Forum look to protect the interests of loyal season ticket holders who cannot afford to be mugged.
Only assumtions at present. I guess I'll know more after i get the promised call
My da got one as well. We're in the North Upper, so I'm not sure what they're trying here. Crossbars obviously has limited capacity, so they can't get everyone from the NU in there. There's no direct access to Crossbars that makes our seats any different to any other up there, so I'd think that this is just an offer, with numbers restricted that is being made.
As a valued customer, we wanted you to be first to know about a change we are making to where you currently have your season ticket.".......
Ambiguously worded but use of 'currently' definitely suggests being moved if not forking out the extra to me.
The letter goes on to eulogise the supposed benefits and talks about an invitation to a "try before you buy" event * complimentary drinks will not be included.
Pretty sure r.e. moving if you don't want to take them up on it. Which is very dodgy, as most in the North Upper go to the pub or turn up late, that's the routine.
There's a bloke in front of me (West Upper) that uses Crossbars - well if he wanted to use the facility during a match or at half time he'd have to relocate to the North Stand wouldn't he? Perhaps that's what they are getting at?
As from next season unless I move to what is now being described as " an Exclusive seat" in the front two rows of the North Upper, I will not longer be able to use the Cross bars lounge . The cost if I choose to move is £530. The alternative I am being offered is to take up a revamped millennium suite lounge ticket for £250
I am totally fuming at this , firstly the fact that I am being told what area of the ground I need to sit in to continue going into a lounge that I have been paying for since it's opening .
Secondly, the west stand facility means walking al the way round the ground upon arriving on match day from where I park, plus walking all the way round the ground again to the east stand.
Thirdly the cost and the feeling of elitism .
Of course I can change my seat, but the East stand is where I chose to sit for a reason and that is where I wish to remain. Which also begs the question where are the existing people who sit in the front two rows of the upper north stand expected to move to if they can't or don't want to pay £530 for the use of a lounge.
Even comparing the outlay of the west stand lounge to what crossbars was this season it is roughly an extra £70- £80 , the prices next season for these facilities are a disgrace.
We all know the club need to make money, but this is alienating the core supporters that have been with CAFC over many good and bad years and in some cases helped to get the club back to The a Valley.
The new board of directors are not only dictating who plays for the club, it now seems they are also now telling us as supporters , where we can sit and drink.
With lounge prices at £250- £530 I think the local pubs will be rubbing their hands at the increase in their match day trade.
I thought the Trust and CAFC were working together to make the match day experience better for all supporters! this decision just shows how much the new board care and listen to the Trust and supporters. - lip service comes to mind along with rip off!!!!!!!
Seems badly thought out and hasn't been run passed anyone to iron out the many problems you highlight.
This is really what the Fans Forum should be for. Not their fault if they weren't told but if you have a "focus group" then use it.
The underlying problem is that the lounge is in the "wrong" stand. The north has the the cheapest tickets and a different demographic meaning less likely to use or pay for Crossbars. Would work better if the lounge was in the East or West but obviously it's not.
But the club's "solution" seems to be to shoe horn people from those other stands in the front two rows of the north upper to make them "fit" and in doing so force those already in those seats either to buy a lounge pass they may not want or to change seats.
How many people have crossbars membership?
Looks to me like they are trying to make an area of the North Upper into some sort of 'elite', ie more expensive, area but have not briefed the staff on how to deal with this as the lady was unable to answer any questions on what happens if we don't go to Crossbars other than saying "We can cross that bridge when we get to it". NEWSFLASH - We're at the bridge as soon as you send the letter out!!
Are you only allowed in NU if you have a Crossbars ST?
One thing I would ask is, if fans are so concerned about the match day experience, why have only 706 fans completed the survey? This is the first part of the collaborative effort between club and Trust, yet we can only get a fraction to complete it despite widespread publicity? This isn't a moan, I am genuinely puzzled on why.
It's gone out on all our channels and some major club ones too and is due to end shortly, and is a major way we can have a say at least in what we want - its not the only way of influencing of course, but could play a big part.
This was never going to happen, in my opinion, because the logistics of people coming through the lower north from elsewhere in the stand and the physical restructuring you'd have to do make it impractical, even if the council would allow it.
What he seems to have come up with instead is to turn it into a traditional hospitality lounge associated with people in arguably the best seats in the upper north. However, this requires relocation, which is always fraught.
The other big problem is that there has never been sufficient demand for additional seasonal lounge capacity of this kind, even in the Premier League, which seems unlikely to have changed with half the crowd we had then and potentially a lot fewer in League One.
Hence Crossbars is pitched at a lower level.
Most people who are attracted by this offer are unlikely to be seated at present in the cheapest area of the ground or to wish to move there, front rows or not.
I don't think we should be against change, per se, and I recognise that Ben will feel the need to do things to justify his existence. One of his other plans was to bump people out of East G&H in order to relocate the family stand. Hopefully that's been dropped.
As far as this one goes, I doubt in practice that he is going to need to take many seats from the front rows because I doubt there will be many wanting to move into them.
Even if you liked the offer but sit elsewhere in the upper north, you may not want to move seats in order to have access to the lounge.
Unless they seriously want to keep these seats empty while fighting the incumbents, this is going nowhere regardless of what the staff say at present.
I think we could take bets on how quickly they back down.
Many years ago the board decided to make a seasonal charge for Bartram's - against all the staff and senior management advice. Four people signed up.